Following his appointment as the head coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), former Australian captain Ricky Ponting opened up on his exit from the Delhi Capitals (DC) coaching setup and said that his availability had become an issue and the franchise wanted him to serve as the full-time head coach. Ponting has been named the new head coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS) from IPL 2025, following his departure from Delhi Capitals two months ago, ending his seven-year stint with the franchise. Ponting becomes the third head coach in four seasons for Punjab Kings, who finished ninth in the 2024 IPL season. The team has not reached the playoffs since 2014, when they were runners-up. One of Ponting’s initial tasks will be to identify players for retention ahead of the next season pending the finalisation of IPL’s retention rules.
Ponting’s IPL journey began as a player with Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural season in 2008. He later joined Mumbai Indians, where he relinquished captaincy mid-season in 2013, allowing Rohit Sharma to take over and lead the team to its maiden title that year. Ponting continued in an advisory role in 2014 and served as head coach in 2015 and 2016.
In 2018, Ponting took over as the head coach of the Delhi Capitals and led them to three consecutive playoffs from 2019 to 2021, including their maiden final in 2020.
After his stint with the Delhi Capitals ends in July 2024, Ponting will lead the Washington Freedom to a title-winning campaign in the Major League Cricket (MLC).
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Ponting said he managed to create a “family atmosphere” during his stint with the Capitals.
“I thought we created a really good family atmosphere there. As I said, I understand what they wanted; they told me my availability was becoming an issue. And they wanted a full-time head coach. I couldn’t commit to that, so I was disappointed that it ended, but I understand the direction they wanted to go in,” Ponting said.
He said, “Everyone I went there with had a great time. You have to look at some of the social media posts put up by Delhi, which will show that a lot of people associated with the franchise were disappointed that I was not able to continue playing further. But decisions had been taken.”
Ponting said the pressure of winning trophies takes a toll on the coach, but he wants that pressure.
He said, “That’s what makes coaching attractive to me. I love that kind of pressure. It’s as close to returning to the game as you can get. From the moment I stopped playing, when the competition in your life is gone, it’s really hard to replace it again. The closest thing I got to playing was going back into the cricket team’s changing room as a coach and feeling like you’re actually playing again. And coaching against people I’ve played against and coaching people I’ve played against – I want to beat them. Simple. The cricket changing room is where I want to be.”
Ponting admitted that he has made many fond memories during his IPL journey, calling coaching MI a “great experience”. He also said that even without the trophy, DC’s changing room was a “special place”.
He added, “But we made some big mistakes in our mega-auction a couple of years ago (2022) and maybe even in retaining our players, and that pushed us back a lot. And this year (2024) as well, little things went against us, Rishabh (Pant, DC captain) got suspended for a game we had to win. We missed the playoffs because of run rate. Those kind of little things add up. Results of T20 games are decided by very small margins. And then our season can also be defined by very small margins. And we at DC have been facing similar mistakes for the last couple of years.”
On the evolution of coaching in the IPL, Ponting said coaching has now become more specialised and teams are covering every base by appointing coaches for different roles.
“So you have so many of the best coaches in the world together. And when you have the best coaches and the best players, you are guaranteed high quality cricket. What the IPL has done by bringing in all these coaches, I think, is why India is really so good. India has always had talent, but putting that talent with the best coaches for two or three months every year has helped them become better players,” he said.
Ponting said a lot of IPL franchises are looking to hire full-time coaching staff, something he did not consider doing as other commitments and family time would make him unavailable during the off-season.
Key performers for Punjab last season included Harshal Patel, who won the Purple Cap for the second time, and uncapped Indian players Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma.
The squad also includes left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and a strong contingent of overseas players, including England’s Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow and South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada.
After the recent retirement of Shikhar Dhawan, identifying a new captain will also be a priority for Ponting and the team management.
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