Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed the batting positions of Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer and Alex Carey ahead of IPL 2020.
Delhi Capitals impressed the fans with their performance in the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League when they reached the play-off stages of the tournament. Ahead of the 2020 season, the Capitals carry high expectations and are bolstered with the presence of veteran players like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane, among others.
In the IPL auction last year, DC bought Australia's Marcus Stoinis and West Indies' Shimron Hetmyer, further strengthening the squad. However, there have been many discussions on social media on the probable batting order for the Capitals, as the major presence of top-order batsmen leaves much to be desired when it comes to the lower-middle order.
However, DC's head coach Ricky Ponting has now broken silence on how his side would look like, come September 20.
In an interaction with Cricket Australia, Ponting talked about the Australian cricketers taking part in the IPL and spoke in detail about the players from Delhi Capitals. He revealed the possible batting position for Stoinis, and also revealed that one of Alex Carey and Shimron Hetmyer might be playing a finisher's role.
"We're sort of tossing up at the moment on where we're going to Stoinis. He's obviously had an outstanding form for Melbourne Stars at the top of the order, and the practice games Aussies have played over the UK. He was in sensational form, opening the batting there," Ponting told Cricket Australia.
"As it turns out, we've probably got two of India's best openers in Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, so we might use Stoinis as a bit of a floater anywhere from 3-6. And we can bank on him for some bowling as well.
Alex Carey also comes into the equation. He has hit a brilliant hundred in one of those intra-squad games in the UK for the Aussies. We know that he can open the batting, we know that he can finish the innings as well.
"So it might be going to someone like Carey or Shimron Hetmyer in our squad, on which player to pick to try and finish the games for us. We know that he (Carey) gives us outstanding flexibility and obviously, he gives us a backup wicketkeeper (option) to Rishabh Pant."
Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL campaign against Kings XI Punjab on September 20.
