Former Australia World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting’s seven-year association as head coach of the Delhi Capitals came to an end on Saturday. This means that the IPL franchise will head to the mega auction in IPL 2025 under a new coach.
The decision to part ways with Ponting comes after DC failed to achieve desired results in the recent couple of years. Ponting, who took over as DC’s head coach in 2018, when the team was called Delhi Daredevils, has been part of their previous seven IPL seasons. They finished last in the league in his first season as coach but then qualified for the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
In 2020, DC made the IPL finals for the first time, where they came runners-up to Mumbai Indians. However, they did not qualify for the playoffs in any of the last three years and finished sixth in IPL 2024, winning and losing seven games each in the season.
“As you move on as our head coach, we’re finding it incredibly hard to put this down in words,” DC said in a post on social media.
“The four things you told us about in every huddle – care, commitment, attitude and effort – they sum up our seven summers together. Seven summers of you being hands-on, but also hands-off, so that we could become better. As athletes, yes, but more importantly, as human beings. Seven summers of you reaching every training session first, and leaving last. Seven summers of you sprinting out of the dugout during strategic timeouts, and biting your nails off until there were none left.
“Seven summers of your dressing room speeches – the speeches, Oh! (Separate post for that loading) Seven summers of your hugs, shoulder pats and fist pumps for us all – newcomer, superstar… and everyone in-between. Thank you for everything, Coach! Like, you often close out,
‘Let’s leave this here mate, grab a beer, get back to work tomorrow, yeah?'”
The remaining DC coaching staff comprises director of cricket Sourav Ganguly, assistant coach Pravin Amre, bowling coach James Hopes, and fielding coach Biju George.