Home
Former Australia captain and current Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting is unhappy with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) scheduling the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction during the opening Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Ponting who will be commentating for Channel Seven during the series will have to leave for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after Day 1's play at The Optus Stadium, Perth on November 22.
While Ponting will be charged with revamping PBKS team as they have Rs 110.5 crore in the purse, his former teammate Justin Langer who is head coach of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will be boarding the flight to Saudi Arabia as well. Ponting called it as "worst possible case".
“It’s the worst possible case scenario for me and ‘JL’,” Ponting said. “We for the last couple of months felt that it was probably going to be in the gap between the Test matches. It takes all the pressure off the players from both teams, there’s a lot of players in both teams in the auction.
“So I always thought it would’ve been in that gap because it just seemed better for everybody. But I don’t know why they’ve chosen the dates they have – it might have something to do with the game. The auction actually starts on air almost immediately after the end of play. So it might be something to do with broadcast."
ALSO READ: Shubman Gill to play in Perth Test after thumb injury? Bowling coach Morne Morkel gives major update
The auction is set to take place on November 24 and 25. Ponting hopes to be back in Australia before the Perth Test ends.
“I’m calling the first day then flying out late Friday night to Jeddah. The auction is the 24th and 25th and then depending on how we’re going through our auction, we’ll see when I can return. Hopefully I’ll get back for the end of Perth, and if not I’ll be back on deck for the start of Adelaide," the 49-year-old said.
Ponting has his work cut out
With Ponting joining PBKS, they retained just two uncapped players. Finisher Shashank Singh (Rs 5.5 crore) and Prabhsimran Singh (Rs 4 crore) are their two retentions. They can reacquire the services of a few capped players using four Right to Match (RTM) cards available.
