Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed that it was captain Shreyas Iyer’s decision to sacrifice himself and promote Josh Inglis to No.3 during their IPL 2025, clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Dharamsala on Sunday.
The move worked with Inglis hitting tearaway Mayank Yadav for three successive sixes in the second over. The Australian’s 30 off 14 balls set the tone for the powerplay in which PBKS accumulated 66 for 2 that eventually helped them set a target of 237. LSG, during their chase, could manage only 38 for 3 and went onto lose the contest by 37 runs.
“It was actually a move that the captain came up with,” Ponting said of Inglis’ promotion at his post-match press conference.
“He thought on that sort of pitch, against that bowling attack, that it would be the right thing to, if a wicket fell early, to send Inglis in. We felt that Mayank would bowl early on. If you look at the way he bowls, he generally bowls reasonably short. And that’s one of Inglis’ great strengths, as you saw tonight. Those pull shots were pretty amazing straight away,” he added.
Iyer, who scored 45 off 25 balls, and the rest of the PBKS middle order then took full advantage of the solid start that Inglis and opener Prabhsimran Singh had set as they posted 236 for 5, their highest total against LSG.
“It then also allows us to have Iyer, Wadhera and Shashank through the middle of the innings, which is what we thought would be crucial for us in tonight’s game as well. So, yeah, I mean, it was probably a surprise call for LSG to see him [Inglis] go out [at No.3] and it paid off for us tonight. So once we got off to a [start], I think we were 70-odd at the end of the powerplay, all the momentum was going with us. You see with our batting, you know, we’ve got someone like Azmatullah [Omarzai] at No.9,” Ponting explained.
“So we bat really, really deep and it allows our top order to play with a lot of freedom. And they did that tonight. And, you know, to bat first and get that sort of total was a great effort.”
Showering praises on young Prabhsimran, who claimed the Player-of-the-Match award for his 91 off 48 balls, including seven sixes and six fours, and his opening partner Priyansh Arya, who is playing his first IPL season, and also made a strong impression with 347 runs in 11 innings, Ponting revealed that he had challenged both his openers for one to score a century on Sunday.
“Yeah, look, he’s been brilliant, hasn’t he? You know, him and Priyansh have got us off to some great starts in the tournament. They both, you know, before today had both made 350 runs each for the tournament. I sort of challenged both of the openers in the team meeting today for one of them to go on and get a hundred in this match,” Ponting said.
“And unfortunately, Prabh felt just a little bit short of that. But look, all we’ve done with our batting group, we’ve just given some really clear direction of the way that we want them to play, to understand how important, you know, top-order partnerships are in this competition. And we know that if Priyansh and Prabh get going together, that they can be ultra-destructive.
“You know, Priyansh mainly, probably more against the faster bowlers. And Prabh’s as good a hitter or spinner as anybody going around. So, they complement each other really well, being left hand, right hand, and one probably being slightly better against the quicks and another against spin. So look, it’s a really good, really good combination,” Ponting added.
The former Australia skipper also hailed left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who attacked with the ball with a three-wicket burst early on to dismantle Lucknow’s top-order despite a solid innings from Ayush Badoni, who scored 74 runs in the chase.
“Arshdeep has got better and better every game. He’s got more confident and starting to get those powerplay wickets now that we know that he can with that brand new ball. His first over tonight set the tone for our bowling innings. He’s a star and we’re very lucky to have him in our team,” he said.