Too many dot balls through the middle phase cost us the game: Ponting

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League has not gone according to plan for Delhi Capitals, as David Warner's side have now lost seven out of 11 league games and will need a miracle to make it to the top four of the points table. 

On a sluggish surface on offer at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Super Kings posted 167 runs in the first innings. However, the Capitals lost wickets at regular intervals and went down by 27 runs, resulting in their qualification chances being very bleak at the moment. 

"We lost two early, then we lost three early, and then the spinners came on, and we didn't show any urgency against the spinners in overs 7 to 16. I was just going through the stats in that phase, and we only scored around 50 runs in that 10-over period," Ricky Ponting said in the post-match press conference. 

"There were about 34 dot balls in the middle of the game. You are never going to win chasing a score if there is that many dot balls through the middle phase," he added.

The former Aussie skipper also stated that Delhi have lost a lot of wickets in the first over of the innings, which has led to the downfall of the team on numerous occasions. 

"I think that is the fifth, sixth, maybe seventh time this season where we have lost a wicket in the first over of the game. On one occasion, we lost two wickets in the first over of the game. That is clearly an area that we haven't got right, and it is pretty obvious where the game was lost," Ponting said.

Delhi have struggled to find an ideal playing XI, with most of the Indian batters struggling for runs in the competition. "Manish started the tournament really well for us and has some impact for us in the first few games," he said. 

"Prithvi and the fact that he is not playing is an indication that he did not perform as we wanted him to. Unlike me, we have changed the batting order a fair bit to find the right combinations."

"We have tried every one of the Indian batters at some stage in the tournament in the middle order, but no one has really grabbed the opportunity with both hands yet," he further added. 

The Head Coach of the side also seemed a little surprised by the turn on offer in Chepauk, especially with the dew around, and said, "If you look at the way Moeen and Jadeja bowled in the middle, it definitely turned a lot in the second innings, which is a really hard one for me to work out because there was a bit of dew around," he concluded. 

Delhi will now host Punjab Kings in an evening encounter on Saturday, May 13, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.