IPL 2020: Ricky Ponting admits ‘Mumbai Indians thoroughly deserved to win’
Ricky Ponting, who was part of two of Mumbai Indians’ IPL victories – as player in 2013 and coach in 2015 – acknowledged MI were the “best” team this season.
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting admitted his side were well beaten by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2020 final on Tuesday. Speaking to the broadcasters at the post-match presentation, the Australian said “You have got to give credit where credit is due: MI have clearly been the best team all the way through this IPL. They’ve beaten us four times in the tournament now. They turned up and played a great game today in the final when it really matters.
“As a coach it is can be frustrating sitting in the dugout when you haven’t got control over things, but I’m extremely proud of the way we played cricket this tournament. Just to finish off, MI thoroughly deserve their win.”
Mumbai Indians’ 5th IPL title feels all the more significant given that all teams were playing while living out of a bio-secure bubble. And Ricky Ponting agreed that such unusual conditions might have affected his side’s consistency.
“We had about three-and-a-half weeks of training before our first game. We knew that that was always going to be a challenge to try and keep the boys up through what’s been a 10 or 11 weeks of a hard slog.”
While the defeat to the Mumbai Indians did hurt, Ricky Ponting felt his side gave a good account of themselves, making the IPL 2020 final – a first for the franchise.
“The IPL is a hard tournament, certainly a hard tournament to win. And at different times you’ve probably seen with our level of cricket – although we played some brilliant stuff, then the level dropped down a little bit and we fought back really well at the end. It has been a really challenging tour.”
There were positives aplenty for the Delhi Capitals, though, including opener Shikhar Dhawan’s form as well as Kagiso Rabada winning the Purple Cap. But perhaps the biggest of them all was the emergence of Shreyas Iyer as a leader. And coach Ponting was quick to praise his young captain.
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“Iyer is a brilliant player, captain and person. He’s definitely grown in stature in the last 12 months. Hopefully we can work together a bit more in the future,” Ponting concluded.
Featured Image: Twitter/Delhi Capitals