'We Have Been Highly Entertaining Team To Watch,' Ricky Ponting Lauds Punjab Kings Despite Final Loss To RCB

ETVBHARAT

Head Coach Ricky Ponting feels that Punjab Kings played a highly entertaining cricket in the recently concluded IPL 2025.

Transcript

00:00I mean, I probably can't speak highly enough for what those young boys have done through

00:06the tournament. You know, with our, the strategy we had going into the auction, for me was

00:12about, you know, almost like a total rebuild of the team and the franchise and, you know,

00:18retaining Preb Simran and Shashank allowed us to go in with a budget, a big budget. You

00:24know, so I started at the top with the captain and Arshtip and Chahal and those guys, but

00:29to build a team, you've got to build around experienced players as well. So once we locked

00:33those experienced players in, in the first part of the auction, then it was about picking

00:37the right young talent and the right people to bring into our franchise to make it different

00:44and make it dynamic. And I think I said the first press conference I had with Shreyas in

00:50Moolanpur before the season started, it was about, you know, becoming a daring dynamic and

00:56different team. And on the back of what, you know, Prab and Prianch and Wadera and these

01:03sort of guys were able to do, I think, you know, there's probably enough being said through

01:07the media over the last, the last couple of months, the way that we've been able to play

01:12our cricket. It's been a highly entertaining team to watch and, and that for, for a coach

01:18to be able to sit back and talk about a team that way, it gives me a lot of satisfaction.

01:23So, you know, you can probably look at tonight and say, was it, was it probably a little bit

01:27of inexperience that cost us maybe a little bit of experience in that middle order today

01:31might've helped us out. But, you know, what I, what I know is that we're going to have

01:36these younger guys around this team for, for a long time. And, and, and I think they're

01:40going to win us a lot of games going forward.

01:41No, I don't, I don't think so. There's no excuses from us, no excuses from me. In fact,

02:00Shashank at the end of the game said he thinks that's the best wicket he's batted on for the

02:03whole season. So it wasn't the wicket. I mean, we, we just lost a bit of momentum at a critical

02:08time. You know, probably the last couple of overs of the power play, you could feel that

02:13it just started, that momentum just started to go away a little bit. And then, you know,

02:17probably the four or five overs outside the power play. We just lost momentum. We lost

02:22critical wickets. You know, Cronall Pandia did an exceptional job with the overs that he

02:27bowled. So that, you know, the game was starting to slip away around 11, 12, 13 overs. And, you

02:34know, we got, the hole got too big and some quality bowling at the end meant we, we came

02:38up just a little bit short, but, you know, even, even, you know, to get as close as we

02:43did, you know, other teams might've got bowled out there for, you know, 30 or 35 runs short,

02:48but, you know, for us to go down by, I don't even know, was that last ball a six or a four?

02:52I didn't even see that. So we lost, what was it? Seven runs in the end, was it? Six runs, yeah.

02:59What was your idea of the game? Hindsight's a wonderful thing. You know,

03:05Wadera played one of his great, his best knocks two days ago against Mumbai in a similar situation

03:10in the game, you know, chasing a, chasing a total and, you know, he, what did he get, 48

03:15off 25 balls or something the other day. So I, once again, no excuses. We, we had the right,

03:21the right personnel in the right phases of the game. We just didn't get the job done tonight.

03:26Yeah, maybe. As I said, I felt a little bit of momentum start to shift there. Obviously,

03:54we got, what, 13 off the first over. I think we're maybe 20 after two overs, got the game

03:59where we want it. Even tactically, I think RCB were good there. You know, Hazel would

04:03bowl in the third. He's normally bowled a little bit later in the power play than that.

04:06So they probably identified that they need to try to, to change the momentum. He comes

04:10on and he's had, he's had really good success against us every game, this, this tournament.

04:15So you could, you could understand that the boys were probably looking to be a bit more

04:18circumspect in his first over, but it was probably the over after that. You know, when you

04:22have a, a really good defensive over, it's, it's really important that the next one you

04:26go after and try and capitalise on. And we weren't able to do that in the fourth over

04:29of the, of that power play. But I think, I think we were 52 or 53 at the end of the power

04:34play and they were 55. So it wasn't like we were a long way behind, but that momentum

04:38had changed a little bit and it was more, it was more of those four or five overs just outside

04:43the power play where it started to change.

04:50I would, I would like to think not because one thing I've told this group and you mentioned

04:55it there is, you know, always taking the game forward, always seeing the positive result

05:01in the way that we go about it, not, not thinking about the negative result that might

05:04happen if you, if you get out. I mean, one thing as a batsman in this game, you can't

05:08be worried about getting out. If you're worried about getting out, you can't play the game

05:10well. So, um, you know, I think the other thing you probably have to give some credit

05:15to is, is Phil Salt's catch of, of Priyant Jaria. That could have been a pretty critical

05:19moment in the game as well with, we know how dangerous he is and has been through the

05:23tournament, particularly in the first, the first six overs. So, you know, that was a great

05:28piece of fielding and sometimes these 20 over games can be decided by a piece of brilliance

05:34like that. So you've got to give them credit. They, you know, they probably felt they're

05:38a little bit short with the bat in the first innings and we were pretty happy to be able

05:41to chase 190. But, um, yeah, as I, as I said, and I'll make no excuses. We just weren't

05:47good enough.

05:47Yeah. I mean, it's, it's funny how those things work out, isn't it? That, you know, that to have

06:11that him available pretty much for the whole season. And, um, we've got a couple of guys

06:14that we would have loved to have had around for a big game like this and a big final like

06:17this. And we, we, we weren't, we aren't able to have that happen. But, uh, look, I think,

06:23you know, we identified a few bowls in their attack that we thought we could really get

06:26after today. Um, you know, I'm a very close observer of the game. So, um, you know, when

06:32I watch the game as close as I do, I'm able to pass on little insights, I guess, to the

06:36players about the way that they maybe should be thinking about playing their cricket against

06:40certain bowlers, against certain teams. We've got it right for most of the year, this year.

06:44Um, you know, it was only a couple of days that we were, we were here celebrating one

06:49of our great wins for the season to get into the final. And today we, we probably feel that

06:52we've let one slip. But as I said, with this group being as young as it is, um, we'll be

06:58back bigger and stronger next season.

06:59Uh, Rikki, uh, you have been in 19 for quite a long time to realize that, uh, other things

07:07have been quite underageous. And what did you tell the players or management or owners that

07:13what should be done for the season? And, uh, secondly, I saw your comments in the ICC that, uh,

07:20um, you know, it's, I think it's always easy to make observations from the outside about

07:34certain teams, um, certain franchises, certain players. Um, but I made it pretty clear when

07:41I was appointed as head coach that I wanted to make sure things were different. I wanted

07:45to make sure things were done in a certain way. Um, and that's from the top, you know,

07:50that's from the owners to the head coach all the way down to the bus driver, really. Um,

07:55I wanted to make things, uh, different. I wanted to make significant change. And I think we've

08:01managed to do that. Um, if you ask the players, you ask any of the staff that have been involved

08:05in this campaign, I think they'd say that it's been a really enjoyable time. Um, we've had

08:10a lot of fun. We've worked hard. We, we've had our challenges as well with Durham,

08:14Charlotte, happening like it did and having to, you know, get out of there and in the

08:18middle of a game that we probably would have won. Um, you know, players going home, Marco

08:23at a world test championship final, things like that. So we've had our challenges along

08:26the way as all teams have through this, through this tournament. But, um, look, I couldn't

08:31be, I couldn't be prouder of the group. I couldn't be more proud of the franchise from

08:35what we, from, you know, where we sort of started. When I say started, that was with only

08:40two retentions at the auction table to be able to build a group like we have. Um, and

08:46that's just not, that's not just me. That's all the scouts and, um, all the management that's

08:50involved. And, you know, and Strauss has been a huge part of the season. There's no doubt

08:54about that. He's, he's grown as a person. He's grown as a player. He's grown as a leader.

08:59And, you know, I, I thought he was, I thought he would get picked in that, in that, that

09:05test team, but, um, they've decided, or test squad, they've decided to go another way.

09:10Um, and you can tell, you can tell with certain people, you know, you can, you can see by the

09:14look in their eye, how determined they are. And he was very determined at the start of

09:19this season before that test selection was even made. You know, he, he was determined like

09:24me to come to a new team and a new franchise, um, and, and make a immediate difference to

09:29the, to the setup. And he's, and he's done that. You know, he's the only captain now,

09:34I think, to take three different franchises to three IPL finals. So that probably says

09:38enough about him as a leader.

09:50Three times, actually.

09:51I won one, I won one with Mumbai, remember? Don't forget about that one.

09:56Can you take us to what, uh, who not fully was the feeling right now, something like him

10:00after such a long, late, uh, 17 years, 18 seasons, 20 years, he has such a lot of

10:04Oh, well, I think you can see in his eyes in that last over, you know, he was shedding

10:10a tear. That's what it means to players. That's what it means to everyone. This, this tournament,

10:14it's not a, you know, Chennai have won it a few times, Mumbai have won it a few times,

10:18but it's not an easy tournament to win. As simple as that. Um,

10:21and the, and you have to think long and hard about that. It's not easy to win this thing.

10:26Um, think about how many, how many good teams that they've had RCB over the years. You talked

10:32about the Punjab Kings and some of the teams that they've had and not been able to get

10:35there as well. It's, it's, it's hard. So, um, that's why it means so much to so many

10:39people. Um, and he could, and he could see what it meant to him and his, and his wife and,

10:43and all the RCB fans to finally get the monkey off their back and, and win an IPL title. So

10:48hopefully in 12 months, that's the Punjab Kings out there doing that. And I'll, uh, hopefully

10:54have another, another title there somewhere.

10:56Um, it's five layers below test cricket, winning an IPL is five levels below test cricket. Yeah.

11:17Yeah. Um, yeah, I, I understand that. I mean, I'm probably one of the biggest purists of the

11:23game that there is, um, still involved in the game, whether I'm coaching or commentating,

11:27you know, my, my first love is, is test match cricket always will be. Um, you know, I was

11:33lucky enough to play some world cups and things like that, but you know, now that I can't play

11:37anymore, this is as sort of as close as I can get to being able to play a test match again.

11:41So, um, but I totally understand what he means. You know, he, um, he had a magnificent test

11:47match career and an even better white ball career that's obviously still going. Um, so

11:52yes, I can understand what he means, but you know, I'm not sure how much of a celebrated

11:56Vero it is, but I reckon he'll be celebrating long and hard tonight and the next couple of

12:00days. They, they deserve to be able to do that.

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