Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting lashed out at his side after the "unacceptable" and "embarrassing" 106-run battering at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
The Capitals endured a forgettable outing here, first conceding 272 runs in the allotted 20 overs and then getting bowled out for 166 in 17.2 overs for one of their heaviest defeats in the IPL's history.
"I was almost embarrassed with our first half of the game," Ponting stated later at the news conference.
"To concede that many runs...we bowled 17 wides and it took us two hours to bowl our overs as well. So, we were two overs behind again, which means the guys bowling the last two overs get to bowl with only four fieldsmen outside the circle."
Skipper Rishabh Pant thus was fined Rs 24 lakh for his second over-rate violation in the ongoing IPL.
The Capitals never looked like they were in the game be it with the ball or the bat, crumbling under the weight of the mammoth total. "A lot of things happened in this game that were unacceptable and a lot of things we will talk as a group that we have to fix immediately to go forward in the competition. There will be some good open discussions in the changing room for sure," Ponting said.
Pant not going for review on a couple of occasions did not help Delhi's cause either, one of them including Sunil Narine, who set up the game for KKR with his 39-ball 85. Narine was batting on 24 when Mitch Marsh expressed confidence that the former had edged the ball off Ishant Sharma. But by the time Pant had opted for the review, the time was up.
"It was quite loud out there. Also, I couldn't see the timer on the screen. There was some problem on the screen," Pant said.
"At the end of the day, they are little things," Ponting said. "There are other bigger concerns for us with the way we bowled, some of the field placings we had set and just how long it's taking us to get around."
Written with PTI inputs