The Indian Premier League (IPL) was praised by Australian cricket star Ricky Ponting on Tuesday, who described it as the world’s best domestic Twenty20 tournament “by a long way.”
Ponting emphasized, using rookie cricketer Jake Fraser-McGurk as an example, that the IPL offers a superb learning environment for future players.
Fraser-McGurk had a tremendous performance, and head coach of the Delhi Capitals Ponting was impressed.
Even though the Delhi Capitals were defeated by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the game, Ponting was impressed by Fraser-McGurk’s remarkable 65 runs in only 18 balls.
The fact that a seasoned player like Ponting acknowledged this highlights how important the IPL is to developing and promoting young talent throughout the world.
“Fraser-McGurk is a very gifted young guy, no question about it, but he is far from a completed product yet. The Indian Premier League is by far the greatest domestic Twenty20 league in the world, so there are plenty of opportunities for him to grow as a player,” Ponting said.
He just hit 65 off of 18 balls, but it’s critical that he takes it as a lesson. Like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal did last night, he must score 100.
The Australian captain that won the World Cup said, “Top-order batsmen, when they get an opportunity to make big scores, they should go and get it; that’s the difference between winning and losing games.”
Ponting emphasized that execution is crucial in every aspect of the game and that the Delhi Capitals must get out to a solid start—a lesson they learnt from their last matchup with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
DC elected to play first in the game, but Sunrisers Hyderabad’s opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head put their bowlers through unrelenting abuse. DC could not stem the tide of the opposition’s batting momentum, try as they may. In the end, SRH scored an impressive 266/7, winning handily against DC by a considerable margin.
“The important thing is to look back and understand what things worked for us and what didn’t work.”Under duress, we didn’t perform as well as we would have wanted. On the eve of DC’s game against Gujarat Titans, Ponting said, “We knew the way Travis and Abhishek will come out and play. We planned for it but we got a little bit confused about what we were trying to do.”
“After the power play, we played a really good game; limiting them to 266 in the final 14 overs was a really good effort.” There are positives to be gained from that game, he said, “but we can’t start a game of cricket like that, we can’t be that far off from execution because in this competition, against good players, these things will count.” Additionally, our batting in the final few overs was on track.
Returning to Fraser-McGurk, Ponting said that he was eager to assist the 22-year-old in honing his abilities.
“He’s learning, and over the next few years, I’d like to work with him more,” He’s simply a great little boy. We are letting him play as he pleases, and he has a straightforward game plan: hit the first ball for six, then the second ball for six “.
Young wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel, who entered as an impact player and had a few brief appearances for DC, was another guy Ponting praised.
“On a few instances, we have seen Porel entering at No. 3. I believe he has great potential. He is quite talented.He is still learning new things every day, including about his training and the various stages of the game, according to the coach.
