Sharjah [UAE], October 14 (ANI): Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting said he would like to retain each and every player of his team for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.

Delhi Capitals' IPL 2021 campaign ended with a hurtful defeat as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) got over the line courtesy Rahul Tripathi's six off Ashwin in the final over.

Ponting was disappointed not to win the IPL 2021 title with a "terrific group of people" and said he will try to build the same squad for the next year's event when the mega auction takes place.

"I would like to keep everyone, to be honest. We have got this terrific group of people at the Delhi Capitals. The playing staff and the coaches have done an amazing job for the last couple of seasons and I think our performances so to speak for themselves," said Ponting during the post-match press conference.

"Disappointed that this season has finished the way that it has, but yeah obviously we know that we will probably only be able to retain maybe three or four players.

"So a lot of players will go back into the auction and then I'll be doing everything I can certainly to bring as many people back into the Delhi Capitals family as possible. Because, as I said, it's been an incredibly enjoyable last three seasons really for me and this playing group, and to bring everyone or most of the guys back together again will certainly be a big goal of mine," he added.

KKR held their nerve and beat the spirited Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 on Wednesday.

The Delhi Capitals head coach feels the match against KKR was the only game the Rishabh Pant-led side was outplayed.

"To be totally honest, looking back at this whole season, I think today really is the only game that I feel that we've been outplayed in," said Ponting.

"We didn't bat well enough today, we didn't get enough runs in the powerplay, we lost wickets too regularly through the middle of our batting innings. If it wasn't for Hetmyer and Shreyas at the end, we weren't looking anywhere near 130 odd, so we've been outplayed and we'll talk about that when we make it back into the rooms after. It's disappointing for us certainly to finish the way that we have," he added.

Ponting highlighted that Delhi Capitals failed to utilise the powerplay and were eight to 10 runs short of the good first six overs score.

"I think the powerplays in both innings was probably the difference in the game. I don't think we got enough in our powerplay with the bat," said Ponting.

"I think we were 37 (38) at the end of our powerplay, which is probably, you know, 8 to 10 runs short of where we wanted to be and what the sort of par score is on this sort of wicket," he signed off. (ANI)