IPL: Ponting reveals who will captain Delhi Capitals against RCB following Rishabh Pant's suspension

On Saturday, Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting announced Axar Patel as the stand-in captain against Royal Challengers Bangalore following Rishabh Pant's suspension. Ponting expressed regret over Pant's absence, labelling it a "loss." Pant's one-match suspension was due to a slow over-rate, with a Rs 30 lakh fine accompanying a Code of Conduct breach during DC's recent win against Rajasthan Royals.

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Axar Patel will captain Delhi Capitals in the absence of Rishabh Pant

"Axar Patel will be our captain for tomorrow. He's obviously been vice-captain for the last couple of seasons.

"He is a very experienced IPL and international player, understands the game really well. He's really excited about it and is always involved and in tune with the game," said Ponting in the pre-match press meet here. Ponting said the Capitals were aware of the possibility of Pant getting banned a few days ago, and were preparing for that eventuality.

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Ricky Ponting on how Delhi Capitals could have stopped Rishabh Pant from suspension

"We started talking about it a couple of days ago when there was a possibility that Rishabh might be banned. We've obviously known that he's been on two strikes.

"We could have actually stood him down from the captaincy to potentially stop this happening, but at the end of the day, the time that's taken out on the field is the captain's responsibility," he said.

The former Australian captain said if Khaleel Ahmed bowled a regulation over in the match against RR, things could have been different for Pant.

"Circumstantially, he was probably a little bit unlucky in the last game. 

Going into Khaleel’s last over, we were only three minutes behind. So, if Khaleel bowled a regulation over without those extra balls (after three wides) and then in Kuldeep's next over we got a wicket, we would have got all of our time back.

"So, the fact that Khaleel's over went for nine minutes, we went further behind the time, and there's no way you can drag your time back," Ponting explained.

The Tasmanian said the only remedy to avoid such incidents in the past is to go through the front 10 quickly to get that extra few minutes in the death overs where usually the proceedings get tight.

"Look, if you're behind at the halfway mark, four or five minutes down in a tight game, you're never going to pick your time up.

"That's one thing we've been talking to all the boys about is just ensure that the first 10 overs we get through as quick as we can, especially if you're not taking wickets." Ponting admitted that not having Pant for a crucial match was a big miss but he said the team was ready for the grind.

"Rishabh's not there. One of the best players, you know, in this particular IPL. I think he is our leading run-scorer, and not to have him there is a loss for us.

"But it's also a great challenge for everybody else. We have to work that little bit harder to make sure that they get the job done for the team," he added.

(With inputs from PTI)