New Delhi: At the mega auction table, Ricky Ponting was visibly keen to bring Shreyas Iyer into Punjab Kings. After a forgettable campaign in 2024 and looking for course correction, Punjab had hired Ponting as coach, who had earlier worked with Shreyas the captain at Delhi Capitals.
The coach-captain duo even took Delhi to the final in 2020 but were beaten by Mumbai Indians, who successfully defended the title.
Ponting was keen to renew that partnership as Punjab bid Rs 26.75 crore to add strength to their batting line-up and get a ready-made successful captain who had led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title in 2024.
They have carried on from where they left in Delhi as Punjab will make their second final appearance overall and first since 11 years. Iyer has had a fruitful season with the bat too, scoring 603 runs in 16 matches, and praised the role Ponting has played in building up confidence of the players.
“He is an amazing coach who manages the player precisely and I personally feel that one thing that stands out with him is that he treats everyone equally,” Iyer said of the former Australian captain.
“That gives a real big boost to every individual, whether he is a junior or a senior. When you know that the coach is treating everyone equally, you are positive and you get that freedom from him to go out there and express the best of your abilities.”
Explaining his role as the leader of the team, he said now that they are in the title round, they need to stay focussed to win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final.
“I think the role of a captain is that you have to get the best out of your players in terms of performance. And when we got a start in this tournament, we gained momentum right from the beginning. After that, every individual kept stepping up,” Iyer said.
“We have so many youngsters in our team; they’ve been dictating terms from ball one, and they’ve done it throughout the season. This is the reason we’ve reached the final.
“I felt like my job was half done. It’s not even finished. We have a match tomorrow. I approached it with that mindset. The job is half done, and I have to come back tomorrow. I have to play the match again. I was thinking that recovery is important.”
Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting and skipper Shreyas Iyer make a formidable pair in IPL 2025 Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
