Rishabh Pant right choice to lead DC, he's got my full backing: Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting has thrown his weight behind Rishabh Pant after Delhi Capitals' (DC) failure to make it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 playoffs after a defeat at the hands of the bottom-placed Mumbai Indians (MI) side on Saturday (May 21).

With MI needing 65 off 33, Pant did not go for a review against Tim David when the batter had clearly edged the ball to the 'keeper. David went on to change the course of the game, slamming 34 off 11 to help MI to a five-wicket victory.

Backing Pant, Ponting says that he was the right choice to lead DC.

"Absolutely, no doubt in my mind that Rishabh even in the last season he was the right choice for captain. Rishabh did a terrific job with the team after he took over from Shreyas (Iyer) after he injured his shoulders," Ponting said during the press conference.

"...he is just a young man and still learning captaincy. Being captain of a T20 team, especially in IPL, which is a high-pressure tournament, is not an easy thing to do and unfortunately, every single thing you do will be scrutinised. He's certainly got my full backing."

While expressing disappointment, Ponting refused to blame his skipper for the loss.

"It is always hard to put a finger on one single aspect of the game. Top of the order our batting was poor, we were four down for 40, which is not the ideal way to start a T20 game, especially big games which you have to win," he said.

"Obviously, Tim David played well. He was probably out first ball but there are so many aspects of the game we will be disappointed with. The players need to learn from games like that.

"I feel pretty gutted that the game slipped throughout of our hands, we didn't close out the match in the last few overs."

Rival MI skipper Rohit Sharma also threw his weight behind Pant, saying such fumbles happen on the cricket field and he will come out stronger from the experience.

"He is a quality captain, we have seen it in the past season how he leads his team. Sometimes things don't go your way, I have gone through such situations, such things happen on the ground, sometimes things don't pan out your way," he said.

"He can take a lot of learning and try and keep things simple, he has a great mind, he reads the game well from behind, and such fumbles can happen and it is important to not doubt yourself. He will come back strong." 

(With inputs from PTI)