“He was our number one priority” - Ricky Ponting opens up on Delhi Capitals’ IPL 2024 auction buys

Delhi Capitals’ (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed that purchasing hard-hitting England batter Harry Brook was their number one priority at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction in Dubai. Ponting expressed happiness at DC being able to acquire Brook at a great price.

Brook was purchased by SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) for ₹13.25 crore in last year’s IPL auction. He was released after a poor season during which he managed one hundred but failed in most of the other games. At the IPL 2024 auction, the England batter was sold to Delhi Capitals for ₹4 crore.

DC also purchased Australian pacer Jhye Richardson for ₹5 crore, West Indian wicketkeeper-batter Shai Hope for ₹75 lakh, and uncapped Indian wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra for ₹7.2 crore. While reflecting on Delhi’s IPL 2024 auction buys, Ponting was quoted as saying by rediff.com:

"We filled all the gaps that we wanted to and I thought that we did a great job at the Auction table.”

Speaking specifically about Brook, he asserted:

“I am excited about working with Harry Brook. He's one of the most talented international cricketers at the moment. He was our number one priority in this year's auction and we managed to acquire him at a great figure.”

On the other hand, DC Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly said that he is excited about West Indian batter Hope.

"He is a good player of spin and he has a phenomenal record in 50-over cricket. And our bowling department is looking good with Jhye Richardson in the attack.”

Some of DC’s other prominent purchases at the IPL 2024 auction were Tristan Stubbs (₹50 lakh) and Ricky Bhui (₹20 lakh).

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“Delhi Capitals have always given a platform to youngsters” - Pravin Amre on Kumar Kushagra

Kushagra, a 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Jharkhand, grabbed the limelight after being picked for ₹7.2 crore.

Speaking about the cricketer, Delhi Capitals assistant coach Pravin Amre commented that the franchise has always backed young talent:

"The Delhi Capitals have always given a platform to youngsters. We backed players such as Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer before they started playing T20 cricket. And Kumar is another player we have decided to support and hopefully, he'll do the job for us.”

Kushagra has so far played 13 first-class matches, 23 List A games, and 11 T20s, scoring 868, 700, and 140 runs, respectively.