Ricky Ponting makes Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes do 25 pushups on the spot; here is why

After six consecutive seasons of disappointing finishes at the IPL - from 2013 to 2018 - the Delhi Capitals finally came into their own in the 2019 season. With Australian legend Ricky Ponting as the head coach and Shreyas Iyer taking over as captain, the side has risen from being almost consistently the worst performing side at the league to finishing third in 2019 and then ending up as the runners-up in 2020. As they gear up to begin their 2021 season and finally get their hands on the elusive title, here's how DC are keeping their spirits high in training.

Ricky Ponting puts DC through the paces ahead of 2021 season

Looking to keeps things fresh and exciting while training in the bio-bubble, Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting set his players a tough challenge in the nets. Hoping to emulate - and improve upon - his team's success from last year, Ponting put the squad though one of his favourite fielding drills from 2020 in preparation for this year. In a video posted on the Delhi Capitals social media, the Aussie can be seen asking youngsters Vishnu Vinod and Manimaran Siddharth to pick two teams to go head to head in the drill, cheekily adding that the losing side would have to do "50 pushups on the spot".

The objective of the game, he explains, is simple - collect the ball and hit it square at the one single stump placed 22 yards away, as one would in a match. While some, like Umesh Yadav and Sam Billings proved to be highly successful at this, others did not fare so well, with even new skipper Rishabh Pant missing his mark by a little bit. In the end, it was Shimron Hetmyer and Chris Woakes' side that lost out, negoting a 25 push-up deal as their punishment.

DC IPL 2021 schedule and CSK vs DC live streaming details

The Delhi Capitals, and their new skipper Rishabh Pant, will take on IPL giants Chennai Super Kings and their veteran captain MS Dhoni in their first game of the season on April 10. The match will begin at 7:30 PM IST from the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The CSK vs DC live telecast will be available on the Star Sports 1 SD/HD and Star Sports 3 SD/HD channels. A live stream of the match will be available on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website. Here is the full DC IPL 2021 schedule:

Delhi Capitals Squad for IPL 2021

Delhi Capitals Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant (C and WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes, Steve Smith, Manimaran Siddharth, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Lukman Meriwala, Vishnu Vinod, Ripal Patel and Sam Billings.

Image Credits: Delhi Capitals Twitter