IPL 2024 auction: He was our number one priority – Ricky Ponting on roping Harry Brook

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed Harry Brook was their number one priority in the Indian Premier League auction 2024. Brook was roped in for INR 4 crores by Delhi Capitals after he was released by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The right-hander is known for his pyrotechnics and has the skills to turn the match on its head. Brook scored 190 runs in 11 matches for the Orange Army in his maiden season of the IPL in 2023. The youngster also scored a fine century in the previous edition but apart from that, he could not grab his chances.

Brook has scored 537 runs in 28 T20Is for England at an average of 28.26 and a strike rate of 145.14. Recently, Brook scored a fine little cameo of 7-ball 31 in the third T20I against the West Indies to help his team win by seven wickets.

Apart from Harry Brook, DC also bought 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 at the auction. Ponting reckons it was a good auction for them as they got what they wanted.

Ponting said as quoted 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.”

“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, Delhi Capitals Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly is delighted to rope in players like Shai Hope and Jhye Richardson.

The former Indian skipper said, “Hope 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.”

Meanwhile, DC bagged 19-year-old wicket-keeper bat Kumar Kushagra for INR 7.2 crores and assistant coach Pravin Amre added 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.”

Delhi Capitals squad after IPL 2024 auction:

Rishabh Pant (c), Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Lungi Ngidi, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Mukesh Kumar, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope, Swastik Chhikara.