Ahead of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting stated Rajasthan Royals have built a brilliant squad and will be among the favourites to lift the trophy this year.
Meanwhile, talking about the defending champions, the former Australia skipper lauded the Hardik Pandya-led side for having a terrific season last time around.
“It’s a tough question…as very rarely does a team dominate the IPL from the start to the finish. Obviously, Gujarat (Titans) last year were amazing, a brand new team and were able to win the tournament. The other finalist last year, Rajasthan Royals, I think have got a really, really good squad. And we said that last year, immediately after the auction, we were pretty impressed with what they were able to do and put a good squad together.
They’ve only built on that again this year. I think Rajasthan will be there, thereabouts. It’s a hard game to judge and a hard game to understand who’s going to win. Who stands up in the moment will generally win more often than not. But if I’m looking at the squads, Rajasthan has got a good squad as anybody,” Ponting said in the latest edition of the ICC Review.
“Let’s wait and see. It’s a nice innovation and it’s definitely going to give a lot more work to the coaches once the game starts. I mean, normally as a coach, once the game is started, there’s not much you can do to influence the outcome of the game. But with this. I think there are some significant ways that you can tactically influence the game,” he added.
