Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting "knows" that only three-four players would be retained by his franchise before IPL's mega auction but given a chance, he wouldn't mind entering the next season with almost the same team that he has at his disposal now
The Australian great though had no qualms in admitting that his team was outplayed by Kolkata Knight Riders in the second IPL qualifier here on Wednesday.
"I'd love to keep everyone," he quipped.
-To be honest, we have got... it is a terrific group of people at the Delhi Capitals, playing staff and the coaches have done an amazing job for the last couple of seasons. And I think our performances sort of speak for themselves there.-
-We-re just disappointed that this season has finished the way that it has. But yeah, so obviously we know that we will probably only be able to retain maybe three or four players.-
-So, a lot of players will go back into the auction, and then I-ll be doing everything I can certainly to bring as many people back into the Delhi Capitals family as possible, because as I said, it-s been incredibly enjoyable, for the last three seasons, really for me.
-To bring everyone or most of the guys back together again, will be certainly a goal of mine,- the former Australian skipper said.
-To be totally honest, looking back at this whole season, I think today really is the only game that I feel we have been outplayed in,- Ponting said at the post-match press conference on Wednesday night.
-We didn-t bat well enough today, we didn-t get enough runs in the power-play, we lost wickets regularly through the middle of our batting innings.-
-If it wasn-t for (Shimron) Hetymer and Shreyas (Iyer) at the end, we weren-t looking anywhere near 130, so we have been outplayed, so we will talk about that when we get back into the rooms after this.
-It is disappointing for us to certainly finish the way that we have,- said the former Australian World-Cup winning skipper.
-Yeah. Look, I think the power-plays in both innings was probably the difference in the game. I don-t think we got enough in our power play with the bat.
-I think we were 37 at the end of our power-play, which was probably, you know, eight to 10 runs short of where we wanted to be,- he added.
Ponting lavished praise on KKR opener Iyer, saying he looks like someone who could be a -terrific player- for the Knight Riders and maybe for India in the future.