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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting joined Punjab Kings (PBKS) as their head coach after seven years at helm of things with Delhi Capitals (DC). Despite a long-running tenure, Ponting couldn't guide DC to their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title. Ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, former DC fielding coach Mohammad Kaif has revealed that Ponting would admit that he could've done better.
"I think Ponting would himself admit he could have done better because the team we made, me, Ganguly...you won't believe there were times we could think whom should we drop. There was no place for Ajinkya Rahane, Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, even Hetmyer. Then when we went to the auction...this was Ganguly who decided and I must praise him for that. He said we have to back the Indian players. He talked to Shikhar Dhawan, after which that trade had happened with Hyderabad," Kaif said in a video posted on his social media.
Kaif recalled that Ponting wasn't in favour of trading Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, DC's Director of Cricket, Sourav Ganguly backed Dhawan and the trade took place. The former India player scored 521 runs in the season. In 2020. DC ended up making it to their first ever IPL final under Shreyas Iyer as captain. Dhawan was exceptional in the season scoring 618 runs including two centuries and four fifties.
"Now we were stuck still thinking if we should make the trade, and it was Ganguly who convinced us that we needed him. Ponting did not agree. He felt his career was over, because it was right when he was dropped from the Test team. In fact, this thing was highlighted in the meeting that Dhawan is a trusted player who can score 500 runs in a season. David Warner was in Hyderabad, and I feel he must have influenced Ponting against going with Dhawan. I feel he must have told Ponting that he no longer remains a great player. But Ganguly and Parth Jindal backed Dhawan and traded him, and the India batter proved us right because we had reached the final that season where he scored a lot of runs," Kaif said.
"So I feel Ponting might have regretted that he would have done better because they did not win a trophy in those seven years. In fact, Ganguly should be credited for bringing Ashwin to the team as well.
"The franchise owner must have felt Ponting no longer had good game plans. Now, Ponting is a huge name. He is in that Sachin Tendulkar category. Now, if a franchise tells him 'thank you so much' and parts ways, that means they feel that he is looking flat with his game plans."
PBKS to go big in auction
The IPL 2025 mega auction will take place at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. PBKS have retained just two uncapped players -- Shashank Singh (Rs 5.5 crore) and Prabhsimran Singh (Rs 4 crore). They have Rs 110.5 crore left in the purse to bid in the auction.
