After two successive wins in the IPL 2024, the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals will be returning to their home ground Arun Jaitley Stadium for their first match of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday.
Delhi Capitals have played two home games in the IPL 2024 in Visakhapatnam as Kotla was not prepared for the IPL matches due to the Women's Premier League final leg.
Speaking about playing the home match in Delhi, head coach Ricky Ponting said he is hopeful to turn the home ground into a fortress this season.
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"We're really excited to be back. It's the home ground. We want to make sure this becomes a fortress for us when opposition teams come here. So, we're excited to be here and hopefully, we can start our home campaign well tomorrow," Ponting said.
"On the back of the WPL, we wanted to ensure that we had some grass back on and the wickets could potentially play a bit better than they have done for us in the last couple of years," he further added while talking about the pitch condition at Arun Jaitley Stadium," he added.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have broken the highest total record twice this season. They are currently placed fourth in the points table with four wins, and two losses in six matches.
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Speaking about the match-up against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Ponting said, "We don't mind having a shootout tomorrow if it's a high-scoring game, so be it."
"We know and expect that they're going to play the way they've played so far in the tournament which has been going hard at the top of the order with the bat, and trying to post a big first innings total. So, we're happy to try and match them in that. We think we've got as good a batting line-up if not better batting line-up than theirs," he added.
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Ponting also provided an update on David Warner's fitness. He said, "He was 85 or 90 per cent fit a couple of days ago. We'd expect that there'd be a little bit more improvement from him today. But he'll have to do a lot of batting today against fast bowling to make sure that the pain he had last week is not anymore. So, hopefully, he's fit and ready."