Delhi Daredevils coach Ricky Ponting reveals reason for sticking with Glenn Maxwell despite poor show

The poor luck of Delhi Daredevils continued in IPL 2018 as well, as the franchise once again failed to make to the season-end playoffs. While the team bore a new outlook and promise, it was their inconsistency that cost them the qualification. Head coach Ricky Ponting also concedes to the same reason.

Ponting on Sunday heaped praise on the Indian players, especially Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, but rued the lack of consistent performance from the rest of the batting unit during the IPL season. Delhi Daredevils notched up back-to-back wins in their last two round-robin matches and Ponting said his team could have been a threat to leading teams if they were consistent.

Glenn Maxwell, one of the marquee signings for this franchise this season, however, had a disappointing outing despite being given plenty of opportunities. However, just prior to the start of the season, Maxwell impressed in Australia’s T20 tri-series tournament against New Zealand and England in February, with scores of 40 not out, 103 not out, 39, 31 and 20 not out.

Revealing the reason to stick with the Aussie, Ponting said, “He is outstanding but he had a disappointing IPL this season. We did stick with him because every game for us, even though we didn’t qualify, we were taking as a final and we wanted to put the team on a path that would give us best chance of winning and if you analyse the overseas batsmen Glenn Maxwell was going to be the best chance of a match winner for us.”

Match Details

The Delhi outfit showed strong character in their last match to end the season on a high. Facing the most successful team in the IPL, Delhi had a task cut out to deny the 3-time champions playoff qualification. And the Daredevils did it in style, winning the thriller by 11 runs.

Batting first, the Delhi Daredevils posted a competitive total of 174/4, courtesy of Rishabh Pant’s quickfire 64. Evin Lewis gave a strong start to the Indians, but they failed to capitalize on it as the wooden spooners knocked defending champions Mumbai Indians out after the trio of Sandeep Lamichhane, Amit Mishra and Harshal Patel starred with three wickets apiece.

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