He has reportedly signed a multi-year contract with the franchise.
In a recent development coming in, Punjab Kings (PBKS) have named an Australian legend as the franchise’s next head coach ahead of the upcoming India Premier League (IPL 2025) season.
Former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting, who parted ways with Delhi Capitals earlier this year after a seven-year association, will now help PBKS to win their maiden IPL title.
In 2018, he became the head coach of the Delhi team, leading them to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2019 to 2021, including their first-ever final in 2020. He eventually left the team in July this year after Delhi missed a top-four finish in the past three seasons.
Ponting will now be Punjab’s sixth head coach in seven seasons. The team has reached the playoffs only twice in IPL history and not once in the last decade. In 2024, they ended up in ninth place.
The latest development was confirmed by an ESPNCricinfo report, which specified that Ponting has signed a multi-year contract with the franchise, and will take a decision on the remainder of the coaching staff ahead of the next season.
The current coaching staff includes Trevor Bayliss as the head coach, Sanjay Bangar overseeing cricket development, Charl Langveldt as the fast-bowling coach, and Sunil Joshi handling spin-bowling coaching.
With the 49-year-old being appointed before the major auction—details of which are still pending official confirmation from the IPL governing council—his primary task will be selecting the players PBKS aims to retain for the upcoming season. Additionally, he will need to identify a potential new captain to succeed Shikhar Dhawan, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket last month.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube.
