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Ahead of the IPL 2025 Playoffs, PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting has warned 'they haven't achieved anything yet'. (BCCI)
As Punjab Kings sealed their top-two spot in the Indian Premier League, there by enabling two shots in the play-offs to enter the final, their head coach Ricky Ponting has warned ‘they haven’t achieved anything yet’. Having been a perennially under-achieving side, Punjab under new captain Shreyas Iyer and coach Ponting have made their first play-offs since 2014, which was the last time they made the final as well.
Having started the tournament on a strong note, they have ended it on a high note as well, defeating Mumbai Indians in their last league match to move top of the table. Speaking of the campaign so far, Ponting said only one-half of his vision has been achieved as yet. “I’m obviously very pleased for the group,” Ponting told the host broadcasters after the match. “It’s a lot of hard work that goes into being able to achieve something like this as a team. I think it’s pretty obvious to see that this is a really talented team that are all on the same page and heading in the same direction. I mean yeah, it’s a great achievement till now but really, if you look back, we haven’t achieved anything yet. That’s the one thing I’ve been saying to the players since the moment we qualified,” he added.
With the play-offs set to begin on Thursday, where Punjab would definitely be in action on their home ground Mullanpur, Ponting hoped they could carry on their good run for another week. “The vision for me was always to finish in the top two, and we’ve got there now. It’s a really happy group and we’ve enjoyed our time in each other’s company for the last ten weeks, but we’ve got another week to go yet.”
From the time Punjab entered the players auction with the biggest purse, many expected them to go for Rishabh Pant, but Ponting chose to impose his faith on Shreyas Iyer with whom he worked at Delhi Capitals during their run to the final in 2020. And Ponting was all praise for his captain.
“I was pretty keen to work with him Iyer again. It was pretty obvious that how much money I was willing to spend on him at the auction. We had a great working relationship in Delhi, we made a final in Delhi under his captaincy. I’ve known him as a person and as a player for a long time. He’s a quality person and when you’ve got quality people around your team, when you’re trying to make a difference and you’re trying to change culture, that’s what you need. If you spoke to the players individually, I think every single one of them would give Shreyas a great rap because he has spent a lot of time with them,” Pontings said.
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