(AFP Photo)
The Delhi Capitals announced via X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday (July 13) that Ricky Ponting, former Australian captain, will be stepping down from his role as head coach. Ponting, 49, led the Australian men’s cricket team to two ODI World Cup titles and had been at the helm of DC since the 2018 season. Despite his tenure spanning seven seasons, the franchise did not secure a championship under his leadership. DC reached the IPL final only once during Ponting’s tenure and faced difficulties qualifying for playoffs in the last three seasons.
Ponting’s departure from DC was confirmed earlier through comments made by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to Bengali newspaper Aajkaal, where he remarked on Ponting’s lack of tangible results. Ganguly also hinted at a possible replacement for Ponting, expressing his desire to guide DC to an IPL victory.
“I have to plan for next year’s IPL. I want to win the IPL for the Delhi Capitals once. The mega auction is next year, and hence I have started planning from now on. Let me break the news. Ricky Ponting will not be the head coach of the Delhi Capitals. Geoffery Boycott was right, as Ponting has not been able to take the franchise forward in the past 7 years. I have to speak with the franchise and ask them to look at Indian coaches.I will be the head coach. Let’s see how I perform,” Ganguly said.
In IPL 2024, Sourav Ganguly served as Director of Cricket for the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals, who finished sixth in the league standings, extending their playoff drought to three consecutive seasons.
During Ponting’s tenure as head coach, he took charge of the Delhi Capitals in 2018, following a successful stint as head coach of the Mumbai Indians, where he secured the IPL title in 2015. Under his guidance, Delhi reached the IPL final in 2020, marking their first-ever appearance in the championship match, although they fell short of clinching the title. In 2021, despite finishing at the top of the points table, the Delhi Capitals were unable to progress to the final, losing both Qualifier matches to the Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.
