IPL 13: Want to play our best cricket in back half of the tournament," says Ponting

Delhi Capitals have been a tough side to beat in the 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) and head coach Ricky Ponting wants to continue the winning momentum in the back half of the tournament.

Delhi Capitals have been a tough side to beat in the 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) and head coach Ricky Ponting wants to continue the winning momentum in the back half of the tournament. The Shreyas Iyer-led side is currently at the top of the points table with 12 points and Ponting feels that focus should remain intact as things can quickly turn around in the IPL.

"Yes, things are looking good at this stage of the season, but I'm never the one to try and look too far ahead because I know how quickly the IPL can turn around. We've seen teams in the past have six wins from their first six games, and then not go on to make the playoffs. So we'll keep a lid on things, and I still think we're six wins from eight games, but probably haven't played our best cricket yet either," Ponting said in a release issued by Delhi Capitals' "One thing I've been telling the boys right from the start of this tournament is that I want us playing our best cricket in the back half of the tournament, not necessarily in the front half of the tournament," the former Australian skipper added.

"So we'll keep working towards that and towards the perfect game, but right now there's a really good feel around the group and when you have that along with a good (team) environment, you tend to win a lot of games. So we'll keep focusing on that and making sure that our planning and preparation is good, and that the results come our way," Ponting further said. Rajasthan Royals failed to chase down 162 as the side was restricted to 148/8 on Wednesday. For Delhi Capitals, Tushar Deshpande and Anrich Nortje scalped two wickets each.

"We put in a lot of hard work, and you know, all that planning and preparation comes down to what the boys do on match day, so I do get pretty heavily involved - but last time (against RR) more so because we started the game really poorly - lost a wicket off the first ball and Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) got out soon after," said the head coach. Deshpande also bowled the final over as Rajasthan needed 22 runs and the seamer just conceded 9 runs, to give Delhi a comfortable victory. This was Despande's first match in this year's IPL. On the other hand, Rabada finished with the figures of 1-28 from his four overs.

One thing I've been telling the boys is - if you can just keep yourselves in the game, and keep fighting then we might be able to pull some wins out of games which we probably shouldn't win - against RR was one such game," said Ponting. "I just love seeing the boys fight like that for every win because as we know, in the IPL, (it) is not easy to win games, so to pinch a game like that was a great result for the boys," added the 45-year-old," he added.

Delhi Capitals will face Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their next match on Saturday. (ANI)

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