On Saturday evening, the David Warner-led side became the first franchise to lose three games in a trot in IPL 2023. Facing Rajasthan Royals (RR) at their home, Delhi succumbed to a 57-run defeat following a below-par performance across departments.
Following a blistering start from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler, the Royals mounted a score of 199 for 4 in 20 overs.In reply, DC were restricted to 142 for 9 in the chase of 200. The Delhi skipper notched up a half-century but that wasn’t enough for the victory. As many as 8 batters scored in single digits with two of them grabbing golden ducks. Following the third straight loss in the tournament, a distraught Ricky Ponting had no option but to admit that DC are a ‘long way off’ from being in competition. He admitted that it’s getting difficult to put his fingers on what’s going wrong.
We are a long way off right now and I can’t put my finger on why. If I watch these boys train and prepare, their work has been really good but it hasn’t just come across as any results yet on the field. So if I could put my finger on it, I would change it," a visibly upset Ponting told media persons after a third debacle in a row in the ongoing IPL. Ponting was pretty straightforward in his admission that the playing combinations used haven’t worked so far.“We have to think about players we are putting on the ground as what we have put in hasn’t worked, as a coaching group we will talk with our captain and take a call," Ponting said. DC have lost three games in a row – by 50 runs to Lucknow Super Giants, by six wickets to Gujarat Titans, and by 57 runs to Rajasthan Royals here on Saturday.
