Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has offered his insights sooner than the IPL 2026 game against the Gujarat Titans.
Punjab Kings
IPL 2026: Punjab Kings (PBKS) are field to kick off their IPL 2026 campaign against Gujarat Titans (GT) at their home ground, New Global Stadium, New Chandigarh on March 31. Punjab reached the closing closing season but misplaced to a superior RCB in the summit clash at Ahmedabad. Shreyas Iyer and Co will seemingly be hoping to replicate their magic, most tasty to pass the closing hurdle this time.
Head Coach Ricky Ponting voiced his self assurance and insisted the squad is stronger, more refined, and better willing to relate in IPL 2026.
Sooner than the PBKS vs GT clash, Ponting reiterated that while closing season’s top-of-the-table impact became once encouraging, they salvage not look like taking the leisure without a consideration and are impending the unusual campaign with a contemporary mindset.
“It’s good to replicate on what became once a massive season for the franchise, but that doesn’t mean the leisure going correct into a unusual year. It’s nil-nil now for every person. We’ve got to delivery out that all all over again,” he acknowledged.
The coach also pointed to improved squad depth and flexibility as a indispensable energy this season, with a pair of alternatives readily in the market all over roles.
“Now we enjoy got the avid gamers that we need in sure roles, but we’ve got also got a motivate-up player for most of these avid gamers upright the formulation all of the manner down to our Twenty fifth player. I upright advise total, we desires to be stronger,” the head coach acknowledged.
He extra added, “I upright advise there is been natural growth in quite quite a bit of our avid gamers and if we are able to relate basically the most tasty out of them over the subsequent two months, initiating the next day, there may maybe be not any rationalization why our performances can not be better than closing year.”
With the season opener field to be performed on a ground anticipated to favour batting, Ponting acknowledged the significance of adapting rapidly to prerequisites while finalising the taking half in XI.
He acknowledged, “Now we enjoy 25 avid gamers to make a decision on between, with a good balance of foreign avid gamers and Indian skills. First and predominant, now we must realize the must haves sooner than we make a selection the crew. Or not it’s upright started raining now, so the entire covers enjoy long past down originate air, so we’ve got not in actuality seen the taking half in ground for the closing couple of days.”
“So optimistically sooner than the end of the session tonight, we are able to enjoy a terribly shapely seek on the wicket that we are going to make exercise of the next day, after which we are able to delivery angry by a model of combos and impact avid gamers and what lets wish to impact with our line-up,” he extra added.
As Punjab Kings put together to take the sphere, Ponting expressed his excitement to salvage the ball rolling, while also emphasising his perception on this unusual squad.
“Now we must delivery properly the next day, we would like to play properly at our home ground, but I in actuality in actuality feel that now we enjoy a bigger squad than we had closing year. Our younger avid gamers are more skilled now and the foreign avid gamers that we have brought on this year are better than the squad that we had closing year. So total, I am in actuality angry to salvage the season underway,” he concluded.
Punjab Kings will play their first match of the season against the Gujarat Titans on the New PCA Stadium, New Chandigarh, on March 31 at 7:30 PM IST.
