“Ponting Didn’t Agree, Ganguly Said We Have To…”: Kaif Explains Australia Nice’s DC Exit

The Delhi Capitals look to start a brand new period, below a brand new teaching workers, as Ricky Ponting heads to Punjab Kings because the franchise’s mentor after spending 7 years within the capital. Together with Ricky Ponting, India nice Sourav Ganguly was tasked with the duty of serving to DC to fetch that elusive IPL title that has been evading it for the reason that starting. However, each Ponting and Ganguly are off to new assignments because the Delhi franchise continues to attend for its maiden IPL title. For Mohammad Kaif, who additionally labored with DC as a member of the teaching workers, many errors had been made by Ponting throughout his stint because the staff’s mentor, and therefore, the franchise bosses determined to maneuver on.

“I think Ponting would himself admit he could have done better because the team we made, me, Ganguly…you won’t believe there were times we could think whom should we drop. There was no place for Ajinkya Rahane, Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, even Hetmyer. Then when we went to the auction…this was Ganguly who decided and I must praise him for that. He said we have to back the Indian players. He talked to Shikhar Dhawan, after which that trade had happened with Hyderabad,” Kaif stated in a video posted on his social media.

Kaif cited the instance of Shikhar Dhawan’s commerce from Sunrisers Hyderabad, which proved to be a masterstroke for the franchise. However, Kaif has claimed that Ponting did not need the commerce to happen, however was satisfied by Ganguly to go forward.

“Now we were stuck still thinking if we should make the trade, and it was Ganguly who convinced us that we needed him. Ponting did not agree. He felt his career was over, because it was right when he was dropped from the Test team. In fact, this thing was highlighted in the meeting that Dhawan is a trusted player who can score 500 runs in a season. David Warner was in Hyderabad, and I feel he must have influenced Ponting against going with Dhawan. I feel he must have told Ponting that he no longer remains a great player. But Ganguly and Parth Jindal backed Dhawan and traded him, and the India batter proved us right because we had reached the final that season where he scored a lot of runs. So I feel Ponting might have regretted that he would have done better because they did not win a trophy in those seven years. In fact, Ganguly should be credited for bringing Ashwin to the team as well,” he claimed.

After the IPL 2024 season, Ponting was let by the Delhi franchise. Kaif feels DC should’ve felt that the previous Australia captain now not had game-plans to guide the troops. Hence, he needed to be launched from his tasks.

“The franchise owner must have felt Ponting no longer had good game plans. Now, Ponting is a huge name. He is in that Sachin Tendulkar category. Now, if a franchise tells him ‘thank you so much’ and parts ways, that means they feel that he is looking flat with his game plans.”

Kaif additionally referred to as out an enormous mistake that Ponting made after becoming a member of Punjab Kings. The incontrovertible fact that the franchise determined to let go of prime gamers like Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone, speaks volumes of the administration’s mindset. Kaif feels the trio ought to’ve been retained.

“Now, he went to Punjab, and he followed the same tactic as the old coaches, retaining a few players and keeping a bigger purse. I felt they were wrong. Look at the Mumbai Indians. Despite finishing last, they retained their core players because they believed that they could still win a title. They backed the same players irrespective of their value. What Ponting did is the same as previous PBKS coaches and I’m not a fan of that. They could have retained Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone. See, there is no guarantee that a franchise can retain the same player at an auction for a lesser price,” he stated.