Dubai, Sep 2
Complementing new Delhi Capitals’ recruits Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane, head coach Ricky Ponting has said the duo would add a lot of experience to the team that was yet to win the IPL title.Speaking after a three-hour net session here on Today evening, Ponting lavished praise on off-spinner Ashwin and batting ace Rahane.”Both of them are class players, and have been long-term Indian players. Ashwin has been one of the most successful spinners in the IPL history, and Rahane has led Rajasthan for a long time as well,” he said.”They have all sorts of skill, class, and experience which they’ll add to our squad. We all know how important experience is in T20 cricket, and we understand that. We’ve got a young captain in Shreyas, but to have those older, more experienced minds on the ground will help us a lot,” said Ponting.A very warm and humid Tuesday evening at the ICC Academy in Dubai saw Capitals train under Ponting for the first time this season. The Australian legend said the conditions were draining but his team was happy to be back together.”The attitude from the start has been amazing, and today was no exception. It was hot and quite draining for the players but coming off on the back of a good season last year, you would expect the mood to be upbeat – and I was delighted to see that and it felt awesome to be back in the team environment, and I think there’s no better place than to be in the Delhi Capitals camp at the moment,” said Ponting.
Weather conditions will be a challenge this season for franchises, which could be overcome by managing training sessions better, said Ponting.”We’ve got a smaller squad so I want to sort of manage our training sessions differently than we did last year. I’ve made it clear to the boys that we are not going to over-train in the first three weeks. I believe our preparation leading up to the first game is critical. I want to make sure that physically, technically, and tactically the boys are peaking for the first game,” he said. “It is an unusual time we have got – having three weeks – I think we had slotted in about 20 training sessions before our first game, which in my opinion are too many, so we are just going to see how the boys are shaping up after every training session and then take it from there,” added the 45-year-old.Commenting on how he intends to maintain the positive team environment from last season, Ponting said he wanted his players to remember why they were successful last season.
