Follow UsDelhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has been mighty pleased with Abishek Porel's performance in the Indian Premier League 2024. The young left-hander came in as an Impact Player in DC’s opening game against Punjab Kings and smashed 32* off 10 deliveries.
Since then, Porel has regularly featured in Delhi’s XII. The 21-year-old has been batting in the top-four and even slammed 65 off 26 while opening the innings against Rajasthan Royals. Overall, Porel has hit 267 runs across 10 innings at an average of 33.37 and a strike rate of 157.98.
"I've seen extreme growth in Abishek Porel in this IPL. In fact, looking back to the start of last season, obviously [with] Rishabh's accident, we needed to bring in some wicketkeepers into our squad after the auction. We tried a lot of guys, a lot of guys that played, more senior guys than Porel, but the moment that I laid eyes on him, I knew that he was a very special talent,” said Ponting ahead of Delhi’s all-important game against RCB on May 12 (Sunday).
"I think, what we've seen in the last half a dozen games in particular, that talent's really starting to shine through. He's starting to work out what IPL cricket is all about. He's had a couple of different roles as well. In the first game of the season for us, he came in as a No. 9 batsman, Impact Player, and made 32 off ten balls there, and now we see him opening the batting and he's got better and better every game.
"I've got huge raps on him. I think he's a very, very good young player, obviously we'll probably get to see him with the keeping gloves on tomorrow as well, with Rishabh not being there. And then we'll work out, when we finalise our team, with the batting order and stuff, but I'll be surprised if he's not at the top of the order again, because he has played really well, and he's someone that I think has got a really bright future."
Ponting also spoke about Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has arguably been the best powerplay batter this season. The 22-year-old has whacked 245 runs in the first six overs at an average of 61.25 and a strike rate of 255.21, which is even better than Sunrisers Hyderabad’s opening duo of Travis Head (219.3) and Abhishek Sharma (205).
Talking about JFM not getting picked in the Australian squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, Ponting said: “I don't think Jake expected to get picked in the first place. It was only a few weeks ago that he turned up here as a replacement player, and probably the furthest thing from his mind was actually getting a chance to be in that World Cup squad.
“It's just been how electrifying he's been in this IPL. Some of the things he's done - I think he's made three 20-ball fifties in this tournament, so he along with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been the stand-out powerplay batsmen in this entire tournament.
"I saw some quotes from him the day that the squad was announced or the day after - he wasn't surprised that he wasn't in the squad, he wasn't disappointed at not being there. I'm sure he would have liked to have been in it, but I think he would have been more surprised to be named than left out.
“He's focused now, like all of us, he's making sure that we're ready to go tomorrow. For us, it's not about what happened yesterday, it's about what we can do today to get better, and then make sure that we're ready to play our best game of cricket tomorrow."
With Rishabh Pant set to miss the RCB game due to slow-over rate suspension, Axar Patel will lead the team. He (Axar) has been Vice-Captain at this franchise for the last couple of seasons. A very experienced IPL player, an experienced international player, a sensible guy, understands the game really well. He's excited about it. We started talking about it a couple of days ago when there was a possibility that Rishabh might be banned,” said Ponting.
"He's got his head around it. We've done our bowlers' meetings today. He'll catch up with all the guys tonight, go through all the plans and make sure that he's ready to lead the team well tomorrow.”
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