Despite their perceived rivalry as captains of two successful teams, Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting said he is “very, very open” to Sourav Ganguly’s inputs through the course of the season, after the latter was appointed as the advisor for the Indian Premier League franchise. Delhi Capitals have been the in the spotlight over the past few days as we head nearer to the 12th edition of the IPL, starting on March 23. The franchise, having never won the mega T20 tournament, seems to be leaving no stone unturned to turn its fortunes around. With former Australian captain Ricky Ponting continuing as head coach, the Capitals brought on Ganguly as an advisor for the Shreyas Iyer-led team. Now, anyone who remotely followed international cricket through the early 2000s knows that Ponting and Ganguly weren’t, to put it mildly, best friends on the field. While the Aussie dominated world cricket by leading from the front, Ganguly, too, changed the mindset of Indian players with his never-back-down attitude. And this, of course, led to several tense moments between the duo out on the field. With Delhi Capitals bringing them together for IPL 2019, viewers will be keen to see the camaraderie, or the lack of it, between these two legends of the game. “Sourav and I have always got along just fine. We have great respect for one another,” Ponting was quoted as saying by The Times of India. “We’ve actually interacted a lot since we’ve been retired. We’ve been on cricket committees together and spent a bit of time talking. He will be an advisor. He might not have anything to do with us on game day but he will be around the team, around meetings. I’m very, very open to that.” ‘Pant is India’s best choice for second ‘keeper’ Speaking about Delhi Capitals’ batting mainstay Rishabh Pant, Ponting said that the youngster remains the best second wicketkeeper’s choice for the Indian team at the upcoming ICC World Cup in England. Pant failed to get going in the recently-concluded ODI series loss to Australia, and there were questions over the 21-year-old’s place in the Indian team for the World Cup. In Mohali, the crowd chanted Dhoni’s name when the youngster missed a crucial stumping chance. The former Mumbai Indians coach, however, reckons the left-handed batsman is lucky to have the bad patch of form behind him. “I think it’s actually a big job for me and the coaches when he comes in, to make him forget what’s happened in the last few days [in Mohali]. He’s probably lucky it happened in the last couple of games,” said Ponting. “It would have been hard to play all five games under that kind of pressure. Now he’s back in a competition where he has dominated in the past. If he can win a couple of games for us then everything will be forgotten. I can’t see anyone better than him as a second wicketkeeper in that Indian World Cup squad.” Similarities with Kohli The 44-year-old, who has 27,483 international runs to his credit, also drew parallels between himself and Indian captain Virat Kohli, and understandably so. Ponting is a right-handed batsman like Kohli, led his country to many famous victories, had an attacking style of play, and an aggressive personality to go with it. “I can relate to Virat because when I watch him play, I think a lot of his attitude is similar to mine,” said the man nicknamed Punter. “On the field, he is aggressive, wears his heart on his sleeve, (though) his body language can get out of control sometimes. That is like me… I was the same. When you are out there, competing, in the heat of battle, things happen. “Yeah, I can see a bit of myself in Virat, especially on the field, not so much on the batting side of things. We are probably naturally aggressive people and that comes across in the way we bat.”<doc-sep>They have been great rivals on the field over the years, but now Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly combine to take control of Delhi Capitals as the franchise look to improve their performance in the cash-spinning league. Speaking about the bond he shares with Ganguly, Ponting said that they share a very close association and his presence in and around the group will be a massive help in the season. “Sourav and I have always got along really well. He is pretty close to us now as an advisor. He was with us for the first practice session and will be travelling along with the team too. His knowledge and experience around our team will be a really good thing for us. I am looking forward to working with him,” Ponting told India Today. ALSO READ: Fans erupt as loud cheers welcome MS Dhoni in CSK practice session - Watch Shreyas Iyer, who replaced Gautam Gambhir as the captain of the side last season, received rave reviews from his coach, both as a batsman and as a leader of the team. “Look Shreyas did a really job last season, having been a young guy thrust into the position of captaining in the IPL. It wasn’t an easy thing for him but he handled it really well. He has been captaining Mumbai and also India A during the last 12 months. He will be a lot better for that. He is a terrific young boy, exceptional talent and has had a really good domestic season coming into the IPL. I hope he will be one of the leading run-scorers again this year and hopefully, his captaincy stands up under pressure,” Ponting added.<doc-sep>Delhi Capitals boasts of a formidable squad ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan in their ranks, the Capitals are truly a force to be reckoned with. However, when asked about the player to watch out for this season, both head coach Ricky Ponting and advisor Sourav Ganguly unanimously took the name of West Indies youngster Sherfane Rutherford. Rutherford, who has made a name for himself while playing for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Carribean Premier League, was bought in the auctions for Rs 2 crore by Delhi Capitals. The 20-year-old had a base price of Rs 40 lakh and he sparked quite a bidding war between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders. READ: Why Gautam Gambhir is not happy with Kohli, Shastri ahead of World Cup “Rutherford actually arrived for the camp without his kit and he has been borrowing stuff from other people. He, like most West Indian talents, is a strong and clean hitter of the ball and he can also bowl some overs for us when needed. He is a top talent in my book and a perfect addition to the batting line-up after our Indian talent. He just needs a bit of time to settle down and to get used to the wickets and conditions,” Ponting said on Tuesday. “I agree with Ricky (Ponting). From the country of Clive Llyod, Rutherford is a good talent,” Ganguly said. Delhi Capitals will start their season with an away match against Mumbai Indians on March 24.<doc-sep>
The debate over who will bat at No.4 for the Indian cricket team has been waging on for quite some time now and various former cricketers have weighed in on the matter in the last couple of weeks. Delhi Capitals advisor Sourav Ganguly surprised everyone with his choice and when asked about it once again, he explained why he picked Cheteshwar Pujara as his pick for the No. 4 position. “Many choices are there but I think the IPL will in a way decide who will get that position,” Ganguly said on Tuesday. READ: IPL 2019: Full schedule and timings of group stage matches “I suggested Pujara’s name because he’s in great form. We’ve seen how well he did in Australia. I’ve seen Rahul Dravid playing World Cup and excelling at number four and five. We used to assign him a role. So I suggest, if you don’t have a ready number four batsman, you can consider Pujara,” Ganguly said on Tuesday. Ganguly was also all praise for wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and said that in the next ten years, the youngster will be an asset to the Indian cricket team. “The biggest problem with Rishabh is how less game time he is getting in limited overs. MS Dhoni is an absolute champion and he plays most of the matches. Rishabh is coming in and going out all the time and that’s never good for anybody. The reason he succeeds in Test cricket is because he plays it consistently,” Ganguly said. “How many Indian wicketkeeper-batsmen have got Test hundreds in England and Australia? And he scored them at ease, it’s not that he struggled... for me, he’s your future. For the next 10 years, you’ll see that boy a lot in all formats... He’ll be a huge asset to the Indian team in the years to come,” he added. READ: IPL 2019: 5 Indian players who can seal World Cup spot with stellar show in IPL Former Australia captain and current Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting also echoed similar sentiments and said that if he was an Indian selector, he will be playing in the No.4 position. “If I were an Indian selector, I’d be picking him in the World Cup squad and I’d play him as a batter,” Ponting said. “I’d play him at number four in the Indian team. He’s that sort of guy with that sort of talent who can win you World Cup. He’s just got that X-factor...,” the former Australia skipper added.