Ricky Ponting branded Punjab Kings’ 16-run win against the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders — where PBKS successfully managed to defend 111 runs, the lowest total that has been defended in IPL history — as “just about the best win that I’ve ever had” as a coach in the tournament. Ponting’s presence in IPL dugouts as coach stretches back to 2014.
Ponting, though, admitted that he didn’t need too many of such nerve-wracking games “at his age”.
“The heart rate still up a bit for me – it’s probably up over 200. I don’t need many of those games like that at my age of over 50 now,” Ponting told the host broadcaster with a smile soon after the game ended in Punjab’s favour.
“It just goes to show how funny a game it is. Only three days ago we couldn’t defend 246 [245] and here we are, defending 112 [111] with 16 runs up our sleeves. We actually said to the guys at the halfway mark that really small chases like this are sometimes the hardest. The wicket wasn’t easy. You can see right through the game it was holding up.”
The architect of Punjab’s victory was Yuzvendra Chahal, who ended with figures of 28/4. His victims included Rinku Singh, skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Ramandeep Singh and KKR’s top scorer on the night, Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
Rinku Singh of Kolkata Knight Riders walks back after being stumped out on a delivery from Punjab Kings’ Yuzvendra Chahal in an IPL 2025 game. (Photo: Sportzpics for IPL)
Ponting revealed that Chahal had to undergo a fitness test before the game.
He said: “What about [Yuzvendra] Chahal tonight! How good a spell of bowling was that! We’ve actually put it on him a bit during the week. He had a fitness test before the game today with his shoulder injury that he picked up in the last game and I grabbed him at the warm-up, looked him in the eye and said, ‘Mate, are you OK?’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m 100% alright, let me out there’, and what a spell of bowling.”