Ponting, it is understood, may take the final call on the rest of the training team
Ricky Ponting has been appointed head coach of Punjab Kings ( PBKS) from IPL 2025, a little over two months after he and Delhi Capitals parted ways ending his seven-year tenure at the franchise.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that Ponting has signed a four-year deal with Kings, a company with many users. Ponting, it is understood, will take the final visit on the rest of the coaching team. There is no clarity yet on who remains on the books from the coaching unit from last year: Trevor Bayliss ( head coach ), Sanjay Bangar ( head of cricket development ), Charl Langeveldt ( fast-bowling coach ), Sunil Joshi ( spin-bowling coach ).
" The Punjab Kings gave me the opportunity to become the new nose coach," Ponting said. " I am excited to take up the new issue. I had great discussions with the users and the control about the way forward and was really elated to see the position of our views for the team. We all want to recover the enthusiasts who have stayed with the company over the years and we promise that they will notice a little different Punjab Kings going forward".
Ponting, who finished seventh overall at Kings in the 2024 season, will be his third head coach in four times. They have certainly qualified for the IPL quarterfinals since 2014, when they finished runners-up. Ponting's primary concern may be assigning players who could be possibly retained for the next time even as the franchises wait for the IPL to finalise the engagement rules.
Harshal Patel, who won the crimson cover for the next moment in IPL 2024, along with the unlimited American pair of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma were among the important performers for Kings next season. Kings even have India left-arm fast bowling Arshdeep Singh, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, legspinner Rahul Chahar in their club along with a good number of international players, including the England pair of Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow and South Africa fast Kagiso Rabada.
With Shikhar Dhawan retiring late, Kings will also be willing to identify a fresh captain.
Since joining the IPL in 2008, Ponting has played first for the Kolkata Knight Riders before moving on to the Mumbai Indians, where he has taken over as captain halfway through the 2013 campaign, allowing Rohit Sharma to step in. In the same year, Mumbai won the title, with Ponting continuing to serve as the head coach for two months in 2015 and 2016.
In 2018, Ponting took command as head coach of Capitals who made the finals for three successive times between 2019 and 2021, during which time they qualified for the first IPL finalized in 2020. After ending his association with Capitals in July, Ponting was head coach during Washington Freedom's title-winning campaign in the 2024 season of Major League Cricket ( MLC ).
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