Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is all set to take over as the new head coach of the Punjab Kings team ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 season, the franchise announced on Wednesday
The legendary cricketer had earlier coached the Delhi Capitals for five seasons before parting ways with the franchise this year.
Ponting has reportedly signed a multi-year contract with the Kings which is co-owned by Mohit Burman (Dabour Group), Appejay's Karan Paul, Bombay Dyeing's Ness Wadia and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta.
Ponting will be replacing fellow Aussie Trevor Bayliss as the new coach. But there is no clarity on what lies ahead for Bayliss, Sanjay Bangar (head of cricket development), Charl Langeveldt (fast-bowling coach) and Sunil Joshi (spin-bowling coach).
Ponting's first few major challenges will be to identify and appoint a new captain after Shikhar Dhawan's retirement this year and to find ways to help the reach the IPL playoffs, which they haven't qualified for since finishing runner's up in IPL 2014.