Credit: IPL
Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting addressed his team’s struggle to get injury replacements in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. In a recent development, star Australia player Glenn Maxwell got ruled out of the tournament due to a finger injury. Maxwell’s finger got hurt during a practice session. With the Aussie’s untimely exit from the competition, PBKS have now witnessed their two overseas players getting sidelined. Earlier, New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson also left the PBKS camp after picking up an injury during the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on April 12.
After the sensational victory against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 30, Ponting divulged that his team will have some new signings to fill a couple of spots in the team. However, the former Aussie skipper didn’t hesitate to blame PSL for the dearth of quality replacements.
"So we've actually been a little bit patient. Maxi's only been a couple of days, Lockie's has been two or three weeks. And with the PSL happening at the same time, there's not a lot of high-quality replacements out there, to be honest. So we've just been patient. We're having a look around at Indian talent as well and we're looking at what roles we might be able to fill with some younger Indian players. We'll actually take a couple of guys to Dharamsala with us, a couple of guys trained with us yesterday and they will come with us to Dharamsala, we'll have a closer look at them and they might find themselves with a Punjab contract going forward. It has to be this week, has to be before the 12th game, so stay tuned," said the 50-year-old Australian.
Punjab eyeing to qualify for the playoffs after 11 years
PBKS won their sixth match of the tournament after beating CSK by four wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The triumph has promoted them to the second spot on the points table and they will now look to reserve a place in the playoffs after 11 years. Punjab last qualified for the playoffs 11 years ago in 2014.
There have been only two instances in IPL’s 18 years when PBKS crossed the league stage. Back in 2008, Kings ended their campaign in the semi-final under Yuvraj Singh’s captaincy. In 2014, George Bailey led PBKS to the final against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who won that edition under Gautam Gambhir's leadership.
