Punjab Kings' (PBKS) new head coach Ricky Ponting is confident that the current team will be the best in franchise history. Ponting who has led Australia to two ODI World Cup titles revealed that he told the players that they are going to become the greats PBKS team.
“The overall vision for this team is to win the IPL. I told the guys on the very first day when I joined the camp in Dharamshala that we were going to create and become the greatest Punjab Kings team that's played. That's the journey that we're on and that doesn't happen overnight. You've got to create that,” said Ponting at Meta creator's day.
“Winning is really an attitude thing. If we turn up to play, the opposition turns up to play, if they want to beat us, then it feels like they're taking something away and I don't want to let anyone take anything away from me or take anything away from my team.”
The last time PBKS reached the final or playoffs was in 2014 under George Bailey's leadership. Since then, they have had several captains and coaches but the playoffs spot has eluded them.
Earlier, Ponting was part of Delhi Capitals (DC) for seven years and helped them reach their first ever final in 2020 edition in partnership with captain Shreyas Iyer. The 50-year-old has been reunited with Iyer. They roped him in for a whopping Rs 26.75 crore in the mega auction.
Ponting on overseas players' impact
Ponting picked as many as five Australian players -- Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie and Xavier Bartlett -- in the squad. He wants overseas players to help the domestic cricketers by setting the right example.
“I put a lot of the bait on them to ensure that they're setting the right example. Because a lot of the young domestic Indian players look up to the overseas boys and if the overseas boys aren't doing the right thing, then it's easy for the young Indian guys to not do the right thing either. So I empower the overseas guys to be the leaders and lead the way,” he said.
PBKS' other three overseas recruits are South Africa's Marco Jansen, Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai and New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson. The Iyer-led PBKS will play their first match of the season against Shubman Gill's Gujarat Titans (GT) on March 25.