Ricky Ponting 'extremely proud' of young Delhi side; heaps 3D praise on Shreyas Iyer

Undeterred by their loss in the IPL 2020 finals to Mumbai, Delhi's head coach Ricky Ponting hailed Shreyas Iyer & co and said that he was 'really proud' of the team. The Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai decimated IPL final debutants Delhi with a five-wicket win, completing four back-to-back victories over them. Ponting admitted that the team's fourth loss to Mumbai was frustrating and went on to heap three-dimensional praise on Shreyas Iyer for his phenomenal growth as a skipper, captain and person. 

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'Really proud of the boys' 

”MI has been the best team, they’ve beaten us 4 times. Being coach it’s a little frustrating in the dugout but at the end of the day, I’m really proud of the job the boys have done", Ponting said at the post-match presentation. 

‘’Iyer is a brilliant player, captain, and person. He’s definitely grown in stature in the last 12 months. Hopefully, we can work together a bit more in the future. We probably had 3.5 weeks of prep before the tournament, so we had a little too much preparation,’’ Ricky Ponting added.

‘’We had a really challenging tour, I was sceptical about leaving Australia but the organizers have done a terrific job. I think we have the youngest squad in the tournament and I’m extremely proud of them,’’ he signed off.

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Rohit Sharma anchors Mumbai's run chase

Delhi were reduced to 22/3 after winning the toss and electing to bat first in their maiden final appearance. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant then added 96 runs for the fourth-wicket stand. Skipper Iyer remained unbeaten and played a crucial knock of a 50-ball 65 as Delhi finished their innings at 156/7 from their 20 overs.

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In reply, Iyer's opposite number Rohit Sharma successfully anchored Mumbai's run chase as he toyed around with the Delhi bowlers by smashing them to all parts of the ground. The 'Hitman' played a spectacular knock of a 51-ball 68 at a strike rate of 133.33 including five boundaries and four maximums. Apart from anchoring the innings, the elegant opener was also involved in a couple of good partnerships with his opening partner Quinton de Kock & Suryakumar Yadav. When Rohit was eventually dismissed in the 17th over it appeared that Delhi would somehow stage a comeback in the contest but it was not to be as Ishan Kishan and Krunal Pandya helped the reigning champions cross the finish line with 8 balls to spare. 

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