Heading into the contest against Punjab Kings in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Delhi Capitals’ preparations received a massive blow as two players — Mitchell Marsh and Tim Seifert ended up testing positive for COVID-19. The fate of the match was unclear till one hour before the scheduled start, however, Delhi Capitals had enough players available for the contest to go ahead at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Ahead of the match, DC head coach Ricky Ponting admitted that the preparation of his side has not been ideal but he expects the Rishabh Pant-led side to give it their all.

“Our preparation has not been perfect but sometimes those things can work really well in your favour. I addressed the group before we trained last night regarding the two options we have,” Ponting told host broadcaster Star Sports before the toss.

“We can drag our backsides around or we can take the positives out of it and realise we are playing in a really big tournament and we are part of a really successful franchise who probably have the best cricket ahead of them going ahead in the tournament so we turn up today with a real well positive attitude,” he added.

Further talking about the clash against Punjab Kings, Ponting said: “With games like this and tournaments like this, you want the leaders within your group to stand up and so far, in the tournament, David Warner‘s leadership has been good. Rishabh Pant and Mustafizur Rahman have been good. What we have been doing is playing 35-36 overs of really good cricket but 3-4 bad overs is what has blown us out of water.”

Promoted

“The tournament has been a stop-start so far for us. The players are very aware of the way I want them to play. It is what it is and we have to get on with it. I am pretty confident that we can put a good show tonight.”

Delhi Capitals’ next match against Rajasthan Royals has been also relocated and instead of Pune, it will now be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Friday.