IPL 2021: Ricky Ponting backs Steve Smith to come good this season

Ahead of IPL 2021, Rajasthan Royals (RR) made a bold decision as they released their skipper Steve Smith and announced Sanju Samson as the new leader of the squad. Smith was expected to initiate a bidding war on the auction table during the IPL 2021 auction, however, in an interesting turn of events, the swashbuckling batsman received just two bids, one from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and another from Delhi Capitals (DC).

The swashbuckling batsman was finally picked by DC at a mere price of INR 2.2 crores. With the T20 Championship round the corner, the former Australian captain and Delhi’s head coach Ricky Ponting opined on Smith’s inclusion in the team saying that the batter will be hungry to score runs and perform better as there is a mega-auction next year.

“I’m not really sure how we got him so cheap. I think the fact that he’s been released from the franchise that he’s been at for a long time will make him a bit hungry as well this year. I caught up with him (recently), he’s very, very keen to go out there and perform well.

“Obviously the other side of that is there’s a big auction again next year, so if he happens to have a really good IPL this year, then I’m sure that that price is going to go up for the coming season,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.

Ponting reveals DC’s mindset behind picking Steve Smith

Further, the veteran revealed that DC didn’t give much thought to picking Smith in the auction as they believed that they will be outplayed by other franchises as many will be eager to acquire the services of the modern-day great. Ponting exclaimed that the management is extremely happy to have Smith on board as he comes with massive experience and knowledge.

“So going into the auction, we hadn’t really spoken a lot about Smithy. His name did come up in some of the strategy stuff, but we just thought ‘we’re getting outbid’, simple as that. So we hadn’t put that much time into it.

“I was on the phone at home actually watching the auction live and talking to our owners as it was all happening. And that one bid came from us, and it was one bid and bang! Sold to Delhi Capitals. It was actually quite remarkable how it turned out because that sort of class doesn’t come around all the time and that sort of experience doesn’t come around all the time,” Ponting concluded.