‘Then there was the stubborn…’ - Sunil Gavaskar slams Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly for DC’s terrible IPL 2023 season

Delhi Capitals suffered an early setback before the kickoff of the IPL 2023 season as their skipper, Rishabh Pant got ruled out of the competition. So, under the captaincy of David Warner, they were looking to perform well. But, their season git finished in the ninth spot with just 10 points in 14 games.

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Despite having some top players and two great former players, Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly in the management, DC had a terrible season. Now, the former Team India cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar came up and slammed both of them with some brutal take. He also raised questions about the improvement of certain young players.   

“Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage” - Sunil Gavaskar

In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar wrote: "What might have looked like an easy-to-rectify problem during their playing days is not conveyed in the same facile way they solved it themselves. Often, the language is a barrier for a young, budding Indian player who comes from the interiors and may not be conversant in English to understand. That probably explains why players like Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg, and Sarfaraz Khan, to name just three, have made little or no progress. Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage, and the result has been a shortage of runs from some of the most promising and prolific young players in the country,"

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"Most importantly, it's got to be an honest one, with no holds barred, for that's the only way hard calls can be taken before the next auction comes up. The two bottom placed teams have plenty of food for thought. They were coached by two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, and yet their teams finished in the bottom half. There could be many reasons for this, but the main one is the aura that these two wonderful players have about them. What this does is keep players, especially domestic newcomers, shy of approaching these masters for any advice. These players have had such superior skills and a magnificent temperament that it's not easy for them to think like those not as gifted as they were in both the technique and temperament department," Gavaskar added.

"Then there was the stubborn, almost defiant refusal to promote the in-form Axar Patel up the batting order. It prompted Ravi Shastri, who had coached the Indian team until last year and seen the batting ability that Axar has, to question if there was something in the contract that said Patel wouldn’t bat above number 7 in the batting order," Sunil Gavaskar concluded.