Australian Test great Ricky Ponting has been praised for his coaching leadership as his unbeaten Punjab Kings soared to the top of the IPL
Ricky Ponting’s magic touch in guiding the Punjab Kings as coach has helped his unbeaten side win once more and take over at the top of the Indian Premier League.
Punjab’s players, headed by skipper Shreyas Iyer, have had nothing but praise for the 51-year-old Australian great’s sure touch in moulding a side that looks equipped to go one better than last year’s visit to the final.
And on Thursday, it was their star pacer Arshdeep Singh who was left hailing Ponting for the words of advice that inspired him to deliver a match-winning display in the Kings’ assured seven-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium home of the struggling Mumbai Indians.
It wasn’t that the master batter was able to offer any technical advice to the Indian white-ball international but Arshdeep revealed that Ponting’s pep talk was still instrumental in helping him take 3-22, keeping Mumbai down to under 200 after Punjab had put them in.
“It feels good and it goes back to having a chat with Ricky,” smiled the left-armer.
“Told him the ball didn’t feel right when it left the hand. The chat was nothing technical, but he told me I was expecting too much from myself, coming off from a high of the World Cup win, and said you can’t maintain that all the time.”
Freed of pressure, Arshedeep bowled beautifully, getting rid of dangermen Ryan Rickelton and India captain Suryakumar Yadav with the swinging ball in his second over, and later castling Sherfane Rutherford with a superb yorker when the ball was reversing.
Mumbai still compiled a challenging 6-195, thanks to a brilliant unbeaten 112 off 60 balls from Quinton de Kock, who hit seven sixes in his first match of the season as replacement for the injured Rohit Sharma. The little South African became the third man to score tons for three different IPL sides.
Xavier Bartlett (0-39) did his bit in the field, taking one steepling catch off Shashank Singh to get rid of Naman Dhir for 50 (off 31) and then taking the simplest boundary-edge relay grab to get rid of Hardik Pandya, thanks wholly to Iyer’s quite unreal mid-air catch-and-toss as he crossed the boundary.
In reply, Punjab made it look easy, even after Cooper Connolly had departed for 17 following a couple of sweet sixes.
A third-wicket partnership of 139 between Iyer (66 off 35 balls, with four sixes) and wicketkeeper-opener Prabhsimran Singh (80no off 39) broke the back of the chase before Punjab’s other Aussie, Marcus Stoinis (10no), clouted a couple of boundaries to see the Kings home with 21 balls left.
It put Punjab on top of the pile with four wins from five matches, the other having been washed out.
IPL 2026 standings
Australians in IPL 2026
Chennai Super Kings: Matt Short ($255k), Spencer Johnson ($255k, replaces Nathan Ellis ($340k))
Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Starc ($2m)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.13m), Tim David ($510k)
Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis ($1.9m), Ben Dwarshuis ($745k), Mitchell Owen ($510k), Cooper Connolly ($510k), Xavier Bartlett ($136k)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Cameron Green ($3.5m)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.5m), Travis Head ($2.38m), Jack Edwards ($510k, withdrawn)
Lucknow Super Giants: Josh Inglis ($1.49m), Mitchell Marsh ($578k)
