Ashok Dinda had left fairly an impression on Australian batting legend Ricky Ponting through the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League in 2008. Recalling his expertise of dealing with Dinda throughout a coaching session for his first franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, Ponting informed the then head coach John Buchanan handy the bowler a contract.
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“Ashok Dinda was a net bowler for us at Kolkata, and for 7-10 days, he literally ran in and bowled bouncers at all of us for every session,” Ponting mentioned in a video for Delhi Capitals. “And I ended up saying to John Buchanan that ‘there is something about this guy, let’s give him a contract.’”
Dinda performed 78 IPL matches and took 69 wickets with a better of 4/18.
April 18 was the 14th anniversary of the well-known knock from Brendon McCullum as he lit up the inaugural match of IPL when he blazed away to an unbeaten 158 for KKR towards Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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Ponting dipped into his reminiscence of the match he was a part of, recalling how he requested McCullum to decelerate a bit however his plea fell on deaf ears.
“We didn’t really know about the tempo of the game or what the score was going to be,: Ponting said. “Brendon was opening the batting, and I was batting at three and got off to an unbelievable start. It seemed like everything he hit had just flew off the bat.”
He added, “I was trying to slow him down a little bit, and he was going harder and harder and ended up playing an incredible innings. What better than seeing the first game of the tournament than someone going out there and getting 158.”
Both McCullum and Ponting have now taken up teaching roles with completely different franchises within the IPL. While McCullum continues his storied affiliation with KKR as their head coach, Ponting is the pinnacle coach of Delhi Capitals.
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