Ricky Ponting set to join Punjab Kings for IPL 2025

Former Australia Captain Ricky Ponting is all set to finalise a lucrative deal with the popular IPL (Indian Premier League) franchise, Punjab Kings (PBKS). However, there is still no confirmation or statement released by the concerned parties on either side so far.

But the reports are rife that the former Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach was approached by Kings recently. It was revealed that the legendary Australian captain has inked a multi-year deal with the franchise. However, it was still unclear whether the current support staff in the form of Sanjay Bangar, Trevor Bayliss, Sunil Joshi and Charl Langveldt, will continue to serve ahead or not.

As per ESPN Cricinfo, Ponting was most likely to call the shots and finalise his support staff in the times ahead to come. Notably, PBKS have failed to qualify for the playoffs since 2014. Hence there is a stiff task cut out for Ponting to figure out the possible retentions of the players ahead of the IPL 2025 auctions. Furthermore, with Shikhar Dhawan having announced his retirement, the former world champion will also need to appoint a new Captain for Punjab as well.

Notably, the former Australian world champion served Delhi for seven long years before he decided to part ways citing various commitments alongside coaching duties. The legendary batter joined the IPL franchise back in 2018. Under Ricky Ponting's able guidance, DC managed to make it to the playoffs rounds of India's biggest cricket carnival on the trot since 2019. It is worthy to mention here that in the year 2020, DC broke the playoffs jinx and went on to feature in their first-ever summit clash of the IPL.

Speaking of individual performances in the IPL 2024 edition, uncapped players Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh exceeded the expectations of the franchise by performing outstandingly well. On many occasions, PBKS were seen struggling with top-order batters failing to score, but the young Indian duo excelled under crunch situations and scored vital runs for the side in the middle order.

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Ponting joined as head coach of Washington Freedom in MLC 2024

Apart from them pacers Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel kept it tight and performed well with the ball in hand for Punjab Kings. Patel specially claimed the purple cap for the second time in his IPL career. Meanwhile, Ponting will be carrying the coaching duties for the third IPL franchise in his Indian cricket carnival career. He first started with Mumbai Indians in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

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Thereafter, he moved on to join Delhi Capitals in 2018. Interestingly, this year he also looked forward far away from India. The legendary figure became the head coach of the Major League Cricket franchise (MLC), Washington Freedom, who went on to win the title in the 2024 edition of the tournament.