Australian legend and two-times World Cup as well as Champions Trophy-winning skipper Ricky Ponting has been appointed in the role of PBKS head coach.
Ricky Ponting has had an exemplary record in the Indian Premier League, as he was first seen starring for the Kolkata Knight Riders as a player back in the inaugural season of 2008, then he returned to the Mumbai Indians in 2013. Ponting started his days as a coach in the IPL when he turned Mumbai Indians batting consultant before parting ways with the team in order to turn head coach and mentor for the Delhi Capitals.
Ponting has had quite a large success with the Capitals, as he took them to multiple playoffs and, on one of those occasions, to a final. It would not be more than 2 months since the legend parted ways with his former franchise, the Delhi Capitals; he is back in the IPL with a new role for a new franchise.
After ending his stint with the Capitals, Ponting was seen in the role of Washington Freedom’s head coach in the MLC 2024. Under Australian head coach and Aussie skipper Steven Smith, Freedom went on to claim the MLC 2024 title.
Ricky Ponting, as reported by ESPNcricinfo, has entered a multi-year contract with the Punjab Kings and has also received the liberty to decide on the remaining of the coaching staff. The roles of previous coaches, Trevor Bayliss, Sanjay Bangar, Charl Langeveldt, and Sunil Joshi, remain unclear as to who would reprise their roles under the new mentor.
The Punjab Kings have been the most disappointing among IPL franchises since they could not make it to the playoffs for 10 seasons since 2014. Ponting is their third man in the role of head coach over the last 4 editions of the IPL.
Appointed just before the retention season, Ponting would have a key role to play as only the likes of players like Kagiso Rabada, Harshal Patel, the purple cap winner, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Singh, and Arshdeep Singh seem to be the handy players in the lineup.
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Also, Ponting would decide the future of overhyped all-rounder Sam Curran and currently placed England’s No. 1 ICC T20I all-rounder, Liam Livingstone. After Shikhar Dhawan’s retirement, they are also in the quest for a new skipper in the upcoming season.
