• By Namrata Vijay
  • Sat, 13 Jul 2024 08:56 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
Add as a preferred

IPL: IPL franchise Delhi Capitals have removed Ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting as the head coach of the team on Saturday, July 13 after seven years. DC took to their official X account and revealed this surprising news of Ponting's removal and since then it has created a huge furore in the Indian cricket fans. Ex-India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who was an assistant to Ponting at DC, will be taking over the reigns after Ponting's removal.

Despite his long stint with this team, where he was often seen building the squad with the a lot of star players in the shortest format, he failed to lead the team to their maiden IPL win. In IPL 2024 as well, where captain Rishabh Pant made a brilliant comeback after a long injury layoff, they failed to qualify for the playoffs and instead finished at the sixth position in the points table.

"Dear Ricky, As you move on as our Head Coach, we're finding it incredibly hard to put this down in words. The commitment, attitude and effort - they sum up our seven summers together," the statement issued by DC said.

"Thank you for everything, Coach! Like you often close out. 'Lets leave this here mate, grab a beer, get back to work tomorrow, yeah?" it added.

Also Read: IND vs ZIM 4th T20I match report

Sourav Ganguly new coach? Reports

Even before this announcement of Ponting's removal was made, Sourav Ganguly revealed to a Bengali daily 'Aajkaal' that the team management was thinking about this decision. It should be noted here that Ganguly also admitted that he would be the next head coach and had already began discussing with the owners as to whom to sign in the 2025 IPL mega auctions.

"Let me give you some news. Ricky Ponting won't be the DC coach any more. Geoffrey Boycott is absolutely right! Ponting has not been able to take DC forward in these seven years. Need to talk to the management. I would suggest looking at Indian options for the coach," Ganguly was quoted as saying to Aajkaal.

He was also asked as to who would replace Ponting, to which Ganguly replied confidently and said that it would be him.

"Why not me? Let's see if I can do it or not. We need to rope in some new players. I wanted to bring in England's new star Jamie Smith for DC's SA20 side (Pretoria Capitals). He was even ready to come in, but then England will be busy for their India tour at that time," he further said.

Ganguly had joined this franchise in IPL 2019 and has since then been working as Ponting's assistant but this surprising move and Ganguly's statements have built an entirely new era for this IPL team.

Also In News