Australian great Ricky Ponting, now Delhi Capitals coach, analyses Australian cricket’s recent breakdown and possible resurrection, discusses the secret of Virat Kohli’s success and proposes a salary cap for young IPL stars in an exclusive interview with TOI. Excerpts…
How different is it coming to India on IPL coaching assignments, as opposed to coming here on high-pressure tours as a captain or player?
I don’t think the pressure’s any less (as coach). The IPL is a pretty high-pressure environment. As the head coach of a team that hasn’t had a lot of success, there’s probably more pressure on us and similar teams like the RCB that haven’t really dominated the IPL.
How different is the setup from the Mumbai Indians, which had more stars?
I don’t think Mumbai have any more stars than Delhi Capitals. This year we have been able to put together a good team. Hopefully, we don’t have the injury issues we had at the start of last season. Morris and Rabada didn’t play any role last year, so if they come in fit and healthy, along with our Indian top-order batting of Shreyas (Iyer), Prithvi (Shaw), Shikhar (Dhawan) and Rishabh (Pant), certainly our team matches up names-wise with any other team.
Is there a perfect recipe for IPL success?
I’d like to think we know a lot about a lot of the players. That’s one of the skills going into the auction. You have to make sure you get the guys you know a lot about, then slot them into certain roles. This year we’ve got Shikhar Dhawan. We needed that really good Indian top-order batsman who averages about 450 runs a season for four-five years. That allows us to play a majority of foreign bowlers. The biggest challenge is to set down a culture: how you will train and prepare. It’s hard to do that when most of the overseas players arrive late because of international commitments.
