We could have easily won both our first games: Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals are yet to register a win in the Indian Premier League 2024. They came close on both occasions but failed to finish the games. They first failed to defend 174 against Punjab Kings and then fell short by 12 runs in the 186-run chase against Rajasthan Royals. 

The Capitals will now come face to face against in-form Chennai Super Kings on March 31 (Sunday). The transition from MS Dhoni to Ruturaj Gaikwad has been as smooth as possible, with the Men in Yellow winning both their games with utmost ease.

"We had a couple of chats about our cricket and the consensus out of those meetings is that we have played some really good and bad cricket. So, we need to find somewhere in the middle where we can play consistently good cricket over 40 overs,” said DC head coach Ricky Ponting.

“We could have easily won both our first games, with Ishant Sharma going down in the first game didn't really help and the other day we went for a few more runs in the bowling innings of that match.

"However, we are very confident that we're going to be able to turn things around against a good CSK team, but it's just a matter of us playing our best cricket for 40 overs."

Delhi haven’t played their best cricket so far but Ponting said it’s a long tournament, and they will try to be more aggressive against the Super Kings, whom they haven’t beaten in their last four encounters. 

“It's not a short tournament, it's quite a long tournament, but by saying that, you would prefer to get off to a good start than get off to a slow start,” said Ponting.

“We have still got 12 games to play. I'm pretty sure we'll have a more positive intent going into this game, we'll be a lot more aggressive in this game than we've been in the first couple of games, and I think if we take the right attitude into this game then we can definitely win."

The Capitals are scheduled to play their first two home games in Vizag with the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi not being match-ready after hosting the second half of the Women’s Premier League. 

"This is our second home for this tournament, this is not a neutral venue by any chance. We have got our first two games here and we want to make sure that this is a place that we can win.”