‘They have got a good squad as anybody’ - Ricky Ponting picks Rajasthan Royals among favourites to win IPL 2023

Ahead of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting stated Rajasthan Royals have built a brilliant squad and will be among the favourites to lift the trophy this year. Notably, the Sanju Samson-led team qualified for the finals of the competition in 2022 but unfortunately suffered a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the Gujarat Titans.

Meanwhile, talking about the defending champions, the former Australia skipper lauded the Hardik Pandya-led side for having a terrific season last time around. However, coming back to the Royals, the 48-year-old stated that it is difficult to predict at the moment who will finish well but he believes that Rajasthan will be one of the top teams.

“It's a tough question…as very rarely does a team dominate the IPL from the start to the finish. Obviously, Gujarat (Titans) last year were amazing, a brand new team and were able to win the tournament. The other finalist last year, Rajasthan Royals, I think have got a really, really good squad. And we said that last year, immediately after the auction, we were pretty impressed with what they were able to do and put a good squad together.

They've only built on that again this year. I think Rajasthan will be there, thereabouts. It's a hard game to judge and a hard game to understand who's going to win. Who stands up in the moment will generally win more often than not. But if I'm looking at the squads, Rajasthan has got a good squad as anybody,” Ponting said in the latest edition of the ICC Review.

Ponting opens up on the Impact Player rule

The former cricketer also opened up on the introduction of the Impact Player rule in the tournament. Speaking about the same, Ponting stated that it’s a nice innovation and it will give them a lot of work once the matches start.

“Let's wait and see. It's a nice innovation and it's definitely going to give a lot more work to the coaches once the game starts. I mean, normally as a coach, once the game is started, there's not much you can do to influence the outcome of the game. But with this. I think there are some significant ways that you can tactically influence the game,” he added.