Sunil Gavaskar feels aura of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting did more harm than good for DC in IPL 2023 

Sunil Gavaskar (Source: Twitter)

As the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) comes to an end, the 10-team battle for the coveted title has now been reduced to four, with four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking on defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday 23 May. It's also a time of introspection for the six teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs to come back strong next season.

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar kicked off the proceedings by dissecting where the team went wrong under legendary captains like Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly. In fact, Gavaskar believes Ponting's coaching did more harm than good to DC. The Delhi Capitals (DC) are back in the bottom two of the IPL points table, courtesy to Sunrisers Hyderabad's equally poor season; else, the 2020 finalists would have finished last.

"The two bottom placed teams have plenty of food for thought. They were coached by two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, and yet their teams finished in the bottom half. There could be many reasons for this, but the main one is the aura that these two wonderful players have about them. What this does is keep players, especially domestic newcomers, shy of approaching these masters for any advice. These players have had such superior skills and a magnificent temperament that it's not easy for them to think like those not as gifted as they were in both the technique and temperament departments".

DC youngsters have not made much progress: Gavaskar

One of the greatest opening batter of all time, Gavaskar observed that the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull and Priyam Garg were hardly given opportunities and pointed out the probable reason behind it. He also suggested looking into what happened with DC opener Prithvi Shaw, who had a dismal campaign.

"Often, the language is a barrier for a young, budding Indian player who comes from the interiors and may not be conversant in English to understand. That probably explains why players like Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg, and Sarfaraz Khan, to name just three, have made little or no progress. Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage, and the result has been a shortage of runs from some of the most promising and prolific young players in the country," he said.

"Then there was the stubborn, almost defiant refusal to promote the in-form Axar Patel up the batting order. It prompted Ravi Shastri, who had coached the Indian team until last year and seen the batting ability that Axar has, to question if there was something in the contract that said Patel wouldn’t bat above number 7 in the batting order," the 73-year-old concluded.