Ricky Ponting’s 7-Year Stint As Delhi Capitals’ Head Coach Comes To An End

Legendary Australian batter and World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting will no longer serve as the head coach of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals (DC). The franchise announced the conclusion of Ponting’s seven-year association ahead of the mega auction for the 2025 edition of the cash-rich league.

According to ESPNCricinfo, the decision was made after the franchise failed to achieve the desired results under Ponting’s leadership, prompting the owners to seek a new direction.

The official X handle of the franchise confirmed the news on Saturday, tweeting, “After 7 seasons, Delhi Capitals has decided to part ways with Ricky Ponting. It’s been a great journey, Coach! Thank you for everything.”

Ponting joined as the coach in 2018, when the team was known as Delhi Daredevils. Under his guidance, Delhi Capitals qualified for the playoffs three times, in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Notably, in the 2020 season, DC reached the finals for the first time but lost to Mumbai Indians (MI).

However, the past three years have seen DC fail to progress to the final four stages. This year, the franchise finished sixth, narrowly missing out on the playoffs based on net run rate, with seven wins and seven losses.

Despite the setbacks, there were several positives for the team this season. Skipper Rishabh Pant made a return to competitive cricket after a life-threatening accident, and youngsters like Jake Fraser McGurk, Tristan Stubbs, Abhishek Porel, and Rasikh Salam Dar delivered promising performances, positioning themselves as potential DC stars for the future.

In a heartfelt post on social media, DC expressed their gratitude: “As you move on as our head coach, we are finding it incredibly hard to put this down in words. The four things you told us about in every huddle–care, commitment, attitude, and effort – they sum up our seven summers together. Seven summers of you being hands-on, but also hands-off, so that we could become better. As athletes, yes, but more importantly, as human beings. Seven summers of you reaching every training session first, and leaving last. Seven summers of you sprinting out of the dugout during strategic timeouts, and biting your nails off until there were none left. Seven summers of your dressing room speeches – the speeches, Oh! (Separate post for that loading) Seven summers of your hugs, shoulder pats, and fist pumps for us all–newcomer, superstar… and everyone in-between. Thank you for everything, Coach! Like you often close out, ‘Let’s leave this here, mate, grab a beer, get back to work tomorrow, yeah?'”

The remaining DC coaching staff includes director of cricket Sourav Ganguly, assistant coach Pravin Amre, bowling coach James Hopes, and fielding coach Biju George.