Capitals 'keeping fingers crossed' over Warner's availability vs Titans

David Warner. Pic/PTI

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting on Tuesday revealed an X-ray performed on David Warner's swollen finger showed no major injury but a call on his participation in the IPL 2024 game against Gujarat Titans will be taken only after he is put through a fitness test before the match. The Capitals are taking on Gujarat Titans in an away match here on Wednesday with Warner's fitness under observation. The top-order batter Warner sustained a finger injury while batting in the match against Lucknow Super Giants.

"David did have an X-ray after the last game. That X-ray came back all clear. But, he's got a lot of swelling around the knuckle on his left hand. We'll give him a fitness test tomorrow morning, and keeping our fingers crossed that he's okay," Ponting said of Warner on the eve of the match. Warner has scored 166 runs for DC this IPL 2024 from six matches, who are struggling in the ninth place with four losses and just two wins.

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Ponting stressed on playing well consistently to do well in a tournament like the Indian Premier League. "The overriding message from me to the players over the last six games is how close we've been. We could easily be sitting here with five wins and one loss. So, we understand how close we are and how close the tournament is, but you can't afford to be close to be good in the IPL. You've got to turn up and be very good every day.

"We know we've got to get better in certain areas of our cricket. And trust me, we're working really hard every day to make sure that we're as well prepared as we can be," he said. At the pre-match press conference, Ponting explained the team's approach for the game against the Gujarat Giants. "We will structure our batting order tomorrow to make sure that we've got the right batsmen against their spinners in those crucial middle overs of the game. "The batsmen are well aware of the skill set that they'll need tomorrow to take on this Gujarat side. We are just looking forward to the contest," Ponting said.

(With agency inputs)