McLaren's Oscar Piastri finally decides on an IPL team to support; chooses Delhi Capitals upon Ricky Ponting's suggestion

McLaren Formula One driver Oscar Piastri has sworn allegiance to the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League after taking some time to decide on a franchise. The Australian driver has a close association with cricket and had a plethora of choices to choose from to begin his journey as an IPL follower.

Piastri recently finished eighth in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, and is placed sixth on the driver's standings, below his English teammate Lando Norris.

The youngster had posted a tweet on March 28, asking the platform's opinion as to which team should he support in the 2024 season. Almost a month later, he posted another tweet of himself donning the Delhi Capitals jersey, which has his name printed on the back and the number #81s, the same one he uses in Formula One.

"Went with @DelhiCapitals as my @IPL team - had to go with @rickyponting. Thanks for all the suggestions. Will be following along," Piastri wrote.

DC will hope that Piastri's newfound loyalty acts as a good luck charm to turn their campaign around. The Rishabh Pant-led side recently secured a close win over the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, but are still searching for consistency. The franchise are placed sixth on the points table with eight points and are very much engrossed in a mid-table muddle.

Oscar Piastri has a close connection with cricket

Being an Australian, Piastri has enjoyed the recent as well as the past glories of the Aussies cricket team. The youngster faced Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon in the nets when the Australian team was touring England for the Ashes, and Piastri was in the country as well for the 2023 Silverstone Grand Prix.

Furthermore, Piastri had reported for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix donning the iconic 2003 World Cup Australia jersey with Brett Lee's name and number printed on the back.

Piastri was urged to support SRH by Pat Cummins because of the 'Orange' connection. SRH boasts the famous Orange Army, with their jersey, emblem, and stadium embodying the same, much like McLaren's famous Papaya Orange.