Australian players Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis attended their first practice session with the Delhi Capitals after completing their mandatory quarantine period on Friday, 9 April. The former Australian and Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith will be looking forward to his time with the Capitals as this will be his first season the new team. On the other hand, Stoinis was part of the DC outfit in the last season and did a commendable all-round job for them.
As per reports from the Delhi Capitals, it is learnt that the duo played an intra-squad practice game with the rest of the DC team ahead of the tournament. Meanwhile, it must be noted that the runners-up from the previous edition have been training at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai.
Delhi Capitals will lock horns against the Chennai Super Kings in their first encounter on 10th April. DC have named Rishabh Pant as their interim skipper for the season after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out for the tournament after dislocating his shoulder in the India vs England series.
Steve Smith was part of the Rajasthan Royals squad last time around and also led the franchise. However, his poor returns with the bat and his underwhelming captaincy forced RR to release him ahead of the mini-auctions and he was snapped up by the Capitals for a pretty low price.
Meanwhile, head coach Ricky Ponting is optimistic of his team’s chances in the upcoming season especially given the sort of players they have in their arsenal.
"I am thrilled with the players that we've got here, and I think we can win the IPL. Might as well go on record and say it now because that's what I am here for and that's what the players are here for," he said.
"We've had our chat and it's all about winning and how we can go one step further from last year. But the other important thing for me is that we've got a very different group from the one we had last year. What happened last year doesn't matter. We've got to work out a way to win enough games to qualify and then win the final," he further added.