Presence of Ponting and Ganguly has made a difference in DC: Prithvi Shaw

Delhi Capitals had come into this IPL with not just a change in their name, turning Capitals from Daredevils; but also, a change in attitude under the wings of new owners. They put their faith in young stars, giving the reins of the team to Shreyas Iyer, have Prithvi Shaw and Rishab Pant as the star players, brought Shikhar Dhawan in and appointed Sourav Ganguly as an advisor to help head coach Ricky Ponting.

Their ploy of making such big changes has paid off, as DC became the top-ranked team in the ongoing tournament as they defeated Rajasthan Royals on April 22 in Jaipur and displaced Chennai Super Kings as the no.1 team on the points table. Their win over RR was credited to Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant, whose amazing 78* took the team past the finishing line in style with a six.

Shaw hails Ganguly and Ponting for influence in DC camp

DC has ended among bottom four teams for nine IPL seasons in a row, but Prithvi Shaw has hailed the presence of head coach Ricky Ponting, assistant coach Mohammad Kaif and advisor Sourav Ganguly for bringing this team together as a unit.

“With seniors like Sourav sir, Ricky sir, Kaif sir around, the body language changes. There are few youngsters like me, Sandeep (Lamichhane), Manjot (Kalra) but we are never made to feel that we were inexperienced, instead, we are always kept in the same group with the seniors, on and off the field. Sourav sir even chills with us when we don’t have practice. We go for dinners together. So, there is a very strong bonding,” Shaw was quoted as saying after the win against Kings XI Punjab.

Talking about his own game, Shaw pleasantly answered, “I had not slowed down. It makes sense if someone like Shikhi (Dhawan) bhai has done well in power play, I can’t just go out and smash every ball. I have to be mentally prepared to take the game deep because in case he got out, one set batsman should be there to take the game deep.”

“Rishabh (Pant, who scored 78 off 36 balls), obviously is the biggest finisher of the game in T20 right now. I was just waiting for my chance and later on I too switched gears,” he further explained.

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