Ricky Ponting, the head coach of the Punjab Kings, is quite happy with his batting unit’s performance so far in the Indian Premier League.
With four victories in five games, Punjab Kings are the only IPL team without a loss. A washout at the Eden Gardens resulted in them sharing a point with KKR.
They defeated the Mumbai Indians on Thursday at the Wankhede by chasing down 196 in the 17th over.
With three fifty-plus scores in as many innings, captain Shreyas Lyer has been leading from the front.
At the top of the rankings, Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya have also performed admirably. “The batting, I’m now starting to run out of appreciation for what we’re doing, but dear, we’re batting well,” Ponting remarked.
“Prabh, I need to praise you because you didn’t get a lot of strike during the Powerplay. Most of your hard work had to be done outside of it, but you were so skillful, so calm, and so calculating. You’re batting as well as I’ve ever seen you bat.”
Ponting praised the bowling unit and highlighted the middle-overs contributions of Shashank Singh.
“Well done to the bowling group. The ability to claw it back was key. It felt like they might get a few more than 200, but Shanky’s (Shashank) couple of overs changed the momentum again.”
Last season, the Punjab Kings made it to their first final in eleven years. They were defeated by RCB in the final.
“We know that if we play somewhere near our best, we’re going to keep winning lots of games of cricket,” Ponting said.
“We should be proud of where we are right now, but that doesn’t mean we don’t go to bed tonight thinking about how we can get better again tomorrow.”
On April 19, the Punjab Kings will take on the Lucknow Super Giants.
