Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting admitted his team will celebrate their seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians on Monday night, but will also remind them that the job is not over yet.
PBKS were ruthless in their chase, as fifties by Priyansh Arya and Josh Inglis set up the massive victory. This sealed a top-two spot for the side in the IPL points table in what is their first appearance in the playoffs since 2014.
Ponting reflected on how things have changed under him this season, starting with the auction, and credited his aggressive young batting core. Being a serial winner, he acknowledged the importance of converting a successful league season into a strong playoff performance.
“Very pleased, a lot of hard work goes into achieving this. Starting from the auction, a big thing for me was to come to a new franchise and make a difference straightaway. It’s a quality team heading in the same direction. We haven’t done anything yet; I’ve been telling players the big games are to come. Prabhsimran is 23-24 and has got 500 runs, I said maybe four or five games in that Priyansh is one of the finds of the tournament.
“Hard to argue with now. Fearless young talent sees and hits the ball. Overseas players – Inglis and Stoinis have been great. Shreyas has been outstanding. We’re a happy group, enjoyed each other’s company for ten weeks, and have one more week to go. Pretty obvious I was keen to work with Shreyas, considering how much I spent at the auction. We had a good working relationship in Delhi. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a quality person. It’s what you need when you need to form a culture,” said Ponting in the post-game chat with broadcasters.
With this win, Punjab have virtually confirmed the first spot, citing their superior run-rate over RCB, who have a chance of levelling PBKS on points when they face LSG on Wednesday.
The team will also be worried about Marco Jansen’s absence, who won’t be available for the playoffs, but Ponting believes his team has the depth to cover for the Proteas pacer, who will be a ‘big miss’ for his side.
“Arshdeep’s great, Chahal should be back. If you speak to players individually, they’ll give Shreyas a good rap. We’ll celebrate tonight, we’ve done that after every game, apart from the last one, due to the short turnaround. I have a late afternoon flight tomorrow, so we’ll determine where our training slots fit. We’ll rest players up. Jansen is a high-quality individual who is tough to replace. Got Jamieson in tonight to ensure he got a game before Marco left. Every team’s missing players, we’d like to think we’ve got good depth and be able to cover for Marco despite it being a big miss,” he added.
–IANS
