Prithvi Shaw a match-winner, one of the reasons he was retained: Ricky Ponting

It has been a season to forget for Delhi Capitals (DC) opener Prithvi Shaw. He has managed 47 runs at 7.83 this season and as a result, he was dropped for the previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Shaw has now gone 12 innings without a fifty in the IPL, with his poor form stretching back to last season. He was retained by his franchise along with Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel and Anrich Nortje ahead of the mega season.

While admitting that it was a tough decision to drop Shaw, DC head coach Ricky Ponting believes that the batter is still a match-winner, which is why the franchise decided to retain him.

"Prithvi, absolutely, at his absolute best we know he is a match-winner. That's one of the reasons that he is a retained player here at the Delhi Capitals, because we know that if he bats a certain amount of balls, we win about 95% of the games, but so far this season he hasn't been able to produce," Ponting said ahead of the return fixture against SRH.

"I think the six games that he played, it was just over 40-odd runs, averaging about 7 or 8, so that's not what we require right now. So it was a tough decision to leave him out, but hopefully, the team that we put on the park tomorrow can win another game for us."

DC decided to open with Phil Saltin the previous game, but the move did not pay dividends as the England wicketkeeper was out first ball.

"It just came to the point, where yes, it was six games this season, but I think it was six or seven games at the back end of last season as well," Ponting further explained his stance on Shaw.

"I think it's 13 [12] games since Prithvi has made a fifty opening the batting for the Delhi Capitals, which, if you look throughout the tournament, there are a lot of other players at the top of the order with other teams that are playing a whole lot better than Prithvi."

Ponting had in fact picked Shaw to be one of the standout players, but believes that he could come back in and put on a good show in the back end of the tournament.

"I actually came out publicly and said it, on record, saying that I thought he would be one of our standout players for the tournament. That hasn't worked out just yet, but saying that, there's a long way to go," Ponting said.

"If things don't work out with our current top order, there's no reason why he couldn't be back in the team, and if he gets back in the team, then hopefully he can finish the tournament really strongly.

"We know what sort of talent he is, everyone's seen him play. It's up to us, as a team, to find a way to get the best out of him."

DC are searching for their third win of the season. If they manage to do a double over SRH, they will be off the bottom of the table, reducing SRH to their fourth straight loss.