Ricky Ponting to wipe out England players to overhaul Punjab Kings?
New Delhi: Discussions regarding the edition of the IPL in 2025 have already gained momentum, with heavy off-season coaching changes already making waves. One of the biggest such decisions has been that Ricky Ponting will be leaving Delhi Capitals for Punjab Kings. Having spent five seasons at Delhi, the former Australian captain is all set to don the jersey of a franchise which did not have much to cheer about in the recent past.
Going by the eye view of Aakash Chopra with the IPL auction nearing in November and the teams are all set with their retention lists, he throws light on how he sees Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings to shape up as the former Indian opener focuses on key areas the franchise needs to look into in his recent discussion on his YouTube channel.
“What will you expect from Ricky Ponting? Firstly, I feel the gathering of English players there will get removed. Everyone will be sent, those bought for 18 crores or 12 crores. You won’t have so many English players there now,” said Chopra.
But Chopra feels that Ponting will not hold a core group of the English superstars the team has in Punjab, including the likes of Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone. It will also miss Chris Woakes who was part of the team in 2024. Coming into the next auction, Chopra believes that Ponting will also look for known Australian players to deepen the playing eleven.
“Now there will be some change there. Now you will have Australian players there. Ponting placed plenty of faith in his compatriots with Delhi, including David Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Mitchell Marsh over the years,” he added.
“You will find that the Australian players in the Delhi Capitals camp will be released and some of them will become a part of Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings. I am not saying he is biased but wherever you see Ricky, you find a slightly bigger Australian contingent there because he knows them well.”
Delhi is expected to release David Warner, who recently lost his position to Fraser-McGurk, but may consider retaining the explosive young opener. The team also featured Mitchell Marsh and pacer Jhye Richardson, while Nathan Ellis was the sole Australian player in the Punjab squad during the 2024 season.
The side hasn’t been able to make it to the playoffs since 2014 and have had four sixth-placed seasons in succession from 2019 to 2022 before two disappointing seasons in 2021 and 2022, finishing 8th and 9th. Cricket expert Aakash Chopra expects big changes ahead of the new season as the franchise looks to turn its fortunes.
“One more thing will change, that is the number of captains that have been made. They have had 16 captains and the 17th one will be made this year. Now since Shikhar Dhawan has taken retirement, they will search for a new captain,” concluded Chopra.
Punjab Kings and Ricky Ponting face significant questions regarding the core team they will bring into the auction and the crucial choices they will make.