"Thank you, Ricky!" – Delhi Capitals penned an emotional note for head coach Ricky Ponting as the Indian Premier League (IPL) team parted ways with him on Saturday. Ponting will no longer coach the Delhi Capitals, bringing his seven-year association with the cricket franchise to an end before the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025.
According ESPN cricinfo, “It is understood that with DC failing to achieve desired results, the owners decided to move on and look for a new head coach.”
“As you move on as our head coach, we are finding it incredibly difficult to put it down in words. The four things that you told us about in every huddle – care, commitment, attitude and effort, they sum up our seven years together,” DC posted on their official 'X' handle.
It added, "Seven summers of your dressing room speeches - the speeches, Oh! (Separate post for that loading) Seven summers of your hugs, shoulder pats and fist pumps for us all - newcomer, superstar... and everyone in-between."
"Thank you for everything, Coach! Like, you often close out, 'Let's leave this here mate, grab a beer, get back to work tomorrow, yeah?," DC said in the post.
Ponting is a two-time World Cup winning captain of Australia. He became the head coach of Delhi Capitals in 2018. While the team reached its maiden final in 2021, the performance in the following years have not matched the promise the team has.
They finished last in the league in his first season as coach but then qualified for the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2021. In 2020, DC made the IPL finals for the first time, where they came runners-up to Mumbai Indians.
However, they did not qualify for the playoffs in any of the last three years and finished sixth in IPL 2024, winning and losing seven games each in the season, the report added.
Now, the mega auction is on cards ahead of the IPL 2025, and there is every possibility that a few retainable stars from each franchise would want to enter the auction pool to check their real market rates.
(With inputs from agencies)
