IPL 2023: After his torrid run in the tournament, DC head coach Ricky Ponting has shut the door on Prithvi Shaw’s comeback to the team. Shaw was dropped from the Delhi Capitals team after not performing after the first six games of the season. Shaw scored a total of 47 runs in the six games he played. “There are a lot of other players at the top of the order with other teams that are playing a whole lot better than Prithvi”, Ponting said after their win against SRH. Follow Indian Premier League 2023 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Seeing Shaw in the pre-tournament net sessions had convinced the former Aussie captain that, this could be the a breakthrough IPL season for him but Punter has now admitted that lot of openers in other IPL teams are performing better than and it is unlikely that DC will go back to the Mumbai opener anytime soon.
Ricky Ponting 😑😤#PrithviShaw #DCvKKR pic.twitter.com/GqAYAekz7G
— Heath Ledger❤️ VFC (@VaitheeVFC) April 20, 2023
Kyle Mayers FIFTY: Kyle Mayers’ DREAM RUN in IPL 2023 continues, WATCH LSG opener SMASH 20-ball FIFTY in clash against PBKS – Follow IPL 2023 Live Updates
Ponting on the decision to drop Shaw
“I think it’s 13 games (considering IPL 2022 as well) since Prithvi has made a 50 opening the batting for the Delhi capitals. There are a lot of other players at the top of the order with other teams that are playing a whole lot better than Prithvi” Ponting said ahead of team’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday.
“Prithvi at his absolute best we know he’s a match winner. That’s one of the reasons that he’s a retained player because we know if he bats a certain amount of balls, we win about 95% of the games,” he said.
“But so far this season, he hasn’t been able to produce. I think the six games that he played was just over 40-odd runs, so that’s not what we require right now.
“So is it a tough decision to leave him out but hopefully the team that we put on the park tomorrow can go win another game for us.”
Shaw before the start of the season
“When he arrived this year, he’d been at the NCA for quite a few weeks working really hard on his fitness he turned up in good physical shape and his work ethic and training and everything in the nets suggested to me that this might be just that big year for him but that hasn’t worked out just yet.”
Even playing England’s Phil Salt hasn’t worked for Capitals this season.
“We needed to try and find a bit of a spark at the top of the order and Phil Salt moved up there the last game but that didn’t quite work as well,” Ponting said.
Ponting is hopeful Shaw can finish things on a high if he gets another chance.
“But saying that there’s a long way to go and if things don’t work out with our current top order, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be back in the team and hopefully can finish the tournament off really strongly.”