Ricky Ponting Joins Punjab Kings as Head Coach Ahead of IPL 2025
One of the most well-liked people in cricket, Ricky Ponting, has been named the new head coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS), effective with the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. This transfer occurs soon after Ponting’s fruitful seven-year tenure with the Delhi Capitals, during which he elevated the team to new heights.
According to information obtained by ESPNcricinfo, Ponting has agreed to a four-year contract with the multi-owner Kings. It is thought that Ponting will make the final decision about the remaining coaching staff. The coaching staff from the previous year, which included Sunil Joshi as the spin-bowling coach, Charl Langeveldt as the fast-bowling coach, Sanjay Bangar as the head of cricket development, and Trevor Bayliss as the head coach, is still unidentified.
Ponting will take over as Kings’ head coach after four seasons as the team ended eighth in 2024. Since finishing as runners-up in 2014, they have not been eligible to participate in the IPL playoffs. Making a shortlist of players who might be kept for the following season would be Ponting’s first task while the teams wait for the IPL to finalize the retention regulations.
Among the standout performers for the Kings in the previous season were Harshal Patel, who earned the purple cap for the second time in the IPL 2024, and the two uncapped Indian players, Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh.
Along with a sizable group of international players, including the South African quick Kagiso Rabada, the England trio of Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, and Jonny Bairstow, and the India left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh, they also boast legspinner Rahul Chahar, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, and a healthy number of players from other countries.
Kings will be eager to choose a new captain as well, after Shikhar Dhawan recently announced his retirement.
Since the IPL’s inception in 2008, Ponting has been a member of the team. He began his career with the Kolkata Knight Riders as a player, then moved on to the Mumbai Indians, where he eventually resigned as captain in the middle of the 2013 season to make room for Rohit Sharma. Mumbai prevailed that year, and Ponting, who had continued as an advisor in 2014, took over as head coach for two seasons in 2015 and 2016 after that.
2018 saw Ponting take over as head coach of the Capitals, who qualified for the first-ever IPL final in 2020 and made the playoffs three times in a row between 2019 and 2021. After parting ways with the Capitals in July, Ponting led the Washington Freedom to victory in the Major League Cricket 2024 season as head coach.