"Excited for what this season holds" - Ricky Ponting looking forward to IPL 2023

Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting is confident his side will have a good outing in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Capitals finished fifth in the points table in IPL 2022, with seven wins and as many losses, and missed out on a playoff berth.

With the tournament back to its original home-and-away format, Ponting is confident of putting up a good showing on their return to the Arun Jaitley Stadium (previously known as Feroz Shah Kotla) after three years.

"Firstly, it's great to be back like I said to all the players before we started training today," the former Aussie skipper said in a video shared by DC. "It is the time I look forward to the most. It's been three or four years since we’ve been at the Kotla as well, and been at our home ground, so it's nice to turn up here, nice to walk back out on the outfield.

"It's nice to see some familiar faces, it was nice to get to know some young players and newer players that we brought into the squad as well," Ponting continued. "So, yeah really excited about what this season holds and today for my first training down, I know that the boys have had a couple of other days before I arrived but really good solid hit today, two more training days then we get into some practice games so, and day by day more and more players are arriving, so yeah, exciting times."

The Capitals, meanwhile, will miss the services of their skipper Rishabh Pant for the entirety of IPL 2023. He suffered multiple injuries during a car crash last year and has been ruled out of the cash-rich league.

Senior batter David Warner will lead the side in his absence, while all-rounder Axar Patel has been named as his deputy.

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"We will play some entertaining cricket" - Ricky Ponting urges fans to rally behind the team

Ricky Ponting also sounded excited about returning to the Arun Jaitley Stadium after a long hiatus.

The former Australian skipper stressed that they will play entertaining cricket and urged fans to turn up in huge numbers at the ground.

"As I said, it's three or four years since we've been at home," he added. "We know that the Delhi Capitals over the last four or five years have had some great support from fans.

"We haven’t been able to play in front of you for the last few years but, I guarantee now that we are back at the Kotla, looks like the whole ground is going to be open as well, I think the last time we were here parts of the ground weren’t open so any that turns out to watch the Delhi Capitals this year, I can guarantee you that we will play some entertaining cricket. Join in, support the boys and I’m sure they will repay you."

Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2023 campaign against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday, April 1.