Observations, opinions and anecdotes - Straight Outta DC, from just another bloke who’s traveling with the Delhi Capitals.
Ricky’s First Speech of IPL 2021 - Training Ground, Goosebumps o’clock.
“I’ve been in Delhi for three years,” said Ricky Ponting in his first talk with the squad after quarantine. “First year I was here, we finished last. Two years ago, we finished third. Last year, we finished second.”
Our fans were with us when we finished last, and they were with us when we took the field for our first ever VIVO IPL Final in the 2020 season. And it’s for them that the DC family will look to keep that upward trend going. “That’s why I’m here. I’m here to win the title.”
Prithvi Shaw was spot on. The background score from Chak De India was already ringing in my ears.
The goal was set, and Ponting also made it abundantly clear that it was, in fact, the players’ team. “This is a different Delhi than it was years ago. Right? And the reason that it is, is because what all you guys have brought to this franchise. Not about me, not about the coaches, it’s about YOU, right? This is YOUR team.”
Ricky 'Kabir Khan' Ponting pic.twitter.com/6dhP3HiskZ
— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx) April 7, 2021
There is no denying the very palpable fact that Shreyas Iyer is going to be immensely missed in IPL 2021. But the one positive is that Rishabh Pant, taking over captaincy at age 23, has got the same guiding light Shreyas Iyer did when he took over captaincy at age 23 - Ricky Ponting. “This is your team now. New skipper Rishabh, it’s YOUR team,” affirmed the gaffer.
Ricky Ponting’s speech has gotten the players and us fans pumped, while the mouth-watering form that most of our DC stars bring into the tournament has us looking forward to the season like never before!
Let’s start with the skipper, shall we? To say that Rishabh Pant has had a surreal six months would be an understatement. Team India’s hero in a historic triumph Down Under, Rishabh Pant came back home only to decimate English attacks with the red and white ball.
An under-confident Prithvi Shaw regained his mojo in spectacular fashion at the Vijay Hazare Trophy scoring 827 runs in 8 matches and breaking domestic records for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Shikhar Dhawan was top drawer last season, and he’s found good form going into the season with two fifties against England including a masterful 98.
Spin twins, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin tormented English batsmen all through the home season. 27 wickets in just 3 Tests with 4 fifers has to qualify as a dream debut series for Axar, while Ashwin performed with both bat (189 runs including a century) and ball (32 wickets) to claim yet another Man of the Series award.
Axar will rejoin the squad after what we hope is a speedy recovery from COVID-19, but ‘Vaathi’ is coming for you from game one!
Anrich Nortje too brings some red hot form with him, having rattled Pakistan batsmen in the two ODIs before heading to Mumbai for IPL 2021 with spearhead Kagiso Rabada.
Having said all this, good form is just one aspect. It’ll take more than that to go all the way. “We adhere to those 4 words that I said - Attitude. Effort. Commitment. And Care. We’ll be better.”
The fourth of Ponting’s words has more significance in a team sport than ever before. With player’s spending all their time with each other in bio-secure bubbles, ‘care’ becomes all the more important. “Trust me, that the last part of that is, the ‘care’ side of it. Every great team I’ve been around, that I have coached or that I’ve played in, have shown genuine care for one another, right? That’s the difference between teams, right?”
If you could spend a day with the DC family at training, or at the hotel, or at a Coffee Mafia meeting, like some of us here are lucky enough to do, you’d see that Ricky Ponting has got nothing to worry about in that department.
Every member of the DC family and their families have made innumerable sacrifices so that the team can be here in a bubble doing what they love the most. Ponting urged them all to try and make all those sacrifices worthwhile.
“But if we’re gonna make the sacrifices to be here, we have to make the best of it we can. It’s not going to be hard, this. It’s just going to be a challenge. And if we handle the challenge as a group better than all the other teams, we’ll win the tournament. Alright?”
"Kyunki main jaanta hoon ki yeh sattar din agar iss team ka har ek khiladi apne zindagi ki sabse badiya Cricket khel gaya, toh yeh IPL trophy khuda bhi tumse cheen nahi sakta."
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) April 7, 2021
Kabir Khan 🤝🏻 Ponting @DelhiCapitals #DelhiCapitals #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/9BrOYg8gWl
Safe to say, we weren’t the only ones transported back to the iconic ‘Sattar Minute’ speech. And as fans who have dearly loved this team since 2008, all we’re hoping for now is for Ricky Ponting’s ‘Rakshason ki Sena’ to go out and achieve what the OG ‘Rakshason ki Sena’ managed to achieve after that very speech.
P.S. Ricky Ponting is probably one of the most motivational speakers in sport. Goosebumps are a given. But if you, as a fan and an average gully cricketer, felt like even you could go out and win games for DC after listening to one of his speeches, you’re not alone.
Observations, opinions and anecdotes - Straight Outta DC, from just another bloke who’s traveling with the Delhi Capitals.
Ricky’s First Speech of IPL 2021 - Training Ground, Goosebumps o’clock.
“I’ve been in Delhi for three years,” said Ricky Ponting in his first talk with the squad after quarantine. “First year I was here, we finished last. Two years ago, we finished third. Last year, we finished second.”
Our fans were with us when we finished last, and they were with us when we took the field for our first ever VIVO IPL Final in the 2020 season. And it’s for them that the DC family will look to keep that upward trend going. “That’s why I’m here. I’m here to win the title.”
Prithvi Shaw was spot on. The background score from Chak De India was already ringing in my ears.
The goal was set, and Ponting also made it abundantly clear that it was, in fact, the players’ team. “This is a different Delhi than it was years ago. Right? And the reason that it is, is because what all you guys have brought to this franchise. Not about me, not about the coaches, it’s about YOU, right? This is YOUR team.”
Ricky 'Kabir Khan' Ponting pic.twitter.com/6dhP3HiskZ
— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx) April 7, 2021
There is no denying the very palpable fact that Shreyas Iyer is going to be immensely missed in IPL 2021. But the one positive is that Rishabh Pant, taking over captaincy at age 23, has got the same guiding light Shreyas Iyer did when he took over captaincy at age 23 - Ricky Ponting. “This is your team now. New skipper Rishabh, it’s YOUR team,” affirmed the gaffer.
Ricky Ponting’s speech has gotten the players and us fans pumped, while the mouth-watering form that most of our DC stars bring into the tournament has us looking forward to the season like never before!
Let’s start with the skipper, shall we? To say that Rishabh Pant has had a surreal six months would be an understatement. Team India’s hero in a historic triumph Down Under, Rishabh Pant came back home only to decimate English attacks with the red and white ball.
An under-confident Prithvi Shaw regained his mojo in spectacular fashion at the Vijay Hazare Trophy scoring 827 runs in 8 matches and breaking domestic records for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Shikhar Dhawan was top drawer last season, and he’s found good form going into the season with two fifties against England including a masterful 98.
Spin twins, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin tormented English batsmen all through the home season. 27 wickets in just 3 Tests with 4 fifers has to qualify as a dream debut series for Axar, while Ashwin performed with both bat (189 runs including a century) and ball (32 wickets) to claim yet another Man of the Series award.
Axar will rejoin the squad after what we hope is a speedy recovery from COVID-19, but ‘Vaathi’ is coming for you from game one!
Anrich Nortje too brings some red hot form with him, having rattled Pakistan batsmen in the two ODIs before heading to Mumbai for IPL 2021 with spearhead Kagiso Rabada.
Having said all this, good form is just one aspect. It’ll take more than that to go all the way. “We adhere to those 4 words that I said - Attitude. Effort. Commitment. And Care. We’ll be better.”
The fourth of Ponting’s words has more significance in a team sport than ever before. With player’s spending all their time with each other in bio-secure bubbles, ‘care’ becomes all the more important. “Trust me, that the last part of that is, the ‘care’ side of it. Every great team I’ve been around, that I have coached or that I’ve played in, have shown genuine care for one another, right? That’s the difference between teams, right?”
If you could spend a day with the DC family at training, or at the hotel, or at a Coffee Mafia meeting, like some of us here are lucky enough to do, you’d see that Ricky Ponting has got nothing to worry about in that department.
Every member of the DC family and their families have made innumerable sacrifices so that the team can be here in a bubble doing what they love the most. Ponting urged them all to try and make all those sacrifices worthwhile.
“But if we’re gonna make the sacrifices to be here, we have to make the best of it we can. It’s not going to be hard, this. It’s just going to be a challenge. And if we handle the challenge as a group better than all the other teams, we’ll win the tournament. Alright?”
"Kyunki main jaanta hoon ki yeh sattar din agar iss team ka har ek khiladi apne zindagi ki sabse badiya Cricket khel gaya, toh yeh IPL trophy khuda bhi tumse cheen nahi sakta."
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) April 7, 2021
Kabir Khan 🤝🏻 Ponting @DelhiCapitals #DelhiCapitals #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/9BrOYg8gWl
Safe to say, we weren’t the only ones transported back to the iconic ‘Sattar Minute’ speech. And as fans who have dearly loved this team since 2008, all we’re hoping for now is for Ricky Ponting’s ‘Rakshason ki Sena’ to go out and achieve what the OG ‘Rakshason ki Sena’ managed to achieve after that very speech.
P.S. Ricky Ponting is probably one of the most motivational speakers in sport. Goosebumps are a given. But if you, as a fan and an average gully cricketer, felt like even you could go out and win games for DC after listening to one of his speeches, you’re not alone.
