Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Punjab Kings (PBKS) pulled off a thrilling 16-run win against defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Tuesday, April 15 in IPL 2025. The hosts defended the lowest total in the tournament history as they restricted the visitors to 95/10 in 15.1 overs. While their was a moment of joy in the PBKS camp for pulling off this brilliant win in a nail-biter, head coach Ricky Ponting had a gruelling day thereafter.
Appearing in the post-match press conference after PBKS’ win, Ponting was enquired if Glenn Maxwell should be replaced by Shreyas Iyer at number three to utilise his batting prowess. The former Aussie cricketer didn’t hesitate and dropped a hilarious response to this, while calling the question to be “career threatening.”
If I want to stay in my job, I'm not going to move the captain: Ponting
When enquired about the same by a reporter, Ponting quickly replied, “Yeah, we've got a guy called Shreyas Iyer at number 3. If I want to stay in my job, I'm probably not going to move the captain. So as we all know, the captain sets the batting order,” leaving everyone in the room in laughter. “He's pretty happy at number 3 and he's been outstanding in the tournament,” he added.
The Australia also went up to say, “So you know we're always trying to find the right time in the game. It's not about numbers that these guys bat. It's about the right time that you can inject them into the game. So we've got good flexibility with our batting order. We've moved a few guys around already this season. As things go on, and we come up with a more settled side, there probably won't be guys moving around too much."
It is to be noted that Iyer has been a revelation this season for the Punjab-based franchise. In the six matches, Iyer has amassed 250 runs at an average of 62.50 and a strike rate of 204.91. While he failed to get some runs in their match against KKR in Mullanpur, his highest score so far has been 97*. On the other hand, Glenn Maxwell has only scored 41 runs so far in the ongoing tournament.
The Punjab Kings will next travel to Bengaluru to take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, April 18 and will then return to Mullanpur to host the Rajat Patidar-led side on April 20.
