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There’s Going to be a Lot of Focus And Attention on Fast Bowlers at IPL 2020 Auction: Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting believes that at the IPL 2020 auction next week, the franchisees will focus their collective attention on fast bowlers.

Australia legend and Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting believes that at the IPL 2020 auction next week, the franchisees will focus their collective attention on fast bowlers, particularly the overseas ones.

The IPL 2020 auction will be held on December 19 in Kolkata with 332 cricketers to go under the hammer.

“There’s going to be a lot of focus and attention on fast bowlers, overseas ones in particular,” Ponting said. “Pat Cummins could go for big money, as could Chris Woakes. Allrounders are always interesting in my opinion. Players like Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme could all be big picks.”

Ahead of the auction, DC, who made it to the playoffs last season, released nine players while retaining 14 including three overseas stars. Ponting said the team has already identified the players they need. “We’ve had several discussions over the last few months, and have put in a lot of time and effort to make sure that we’re well prepared. You can do all the planning in the world, but at the auction table, the unpredictable always happens,” he said.

He added, “Going into the auction you have to be very specific about the kind of players you need,” he said. “For instance, we’ve got three openers, so we don’t need to look for one. You need to identify the problem areas in your starting eleven, and essentially plug the gaps.”

The erstwhile Delhi Daredevils were rechristened as Delhi Capitals last year and under Ponting and mentorship of Sourav Ganguly they made the playoffs where they lost to Chennai Super Kings.

Reflecting on the season, Ponting said, “The semi-final loss against Chennai was disappointing of course. But we played some great cricket, and even now, about 7-8 months after the tournament, I feel like there were times when we were the best team in the competition. I just remember how much fun everybody had. It was a totally different environment than most other IPLs that I have been a part of. The idea is to recreate that atmosphere and culture with our new and existing bunch of players.”

During the trading window, DC added India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin (from Kings XI Punjab) and top-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane (From Rajasthan Royals). They (Ashwin and Rahane) are the kind of players who are likely to do well on the Kotla wicket, and of course, bring tremendous experience with them,” the three-time world cup winner said.

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