Ponting’s pep talk convinces Punjab players to stay back despite India-Pak tensions

Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting convinced their overseas players to stay in India even though the Indian Premier League (IPL) season has been cancelled for a week due to the war-like situation with Pakistan.

The Kings' CEO Satish Menon told news agencies that their influential head coach was instrumental in reassuring the edgy players, who had a chance to fly out of the country when a ceasefire was declared. "It shows Ponting's character. Only he could have pulled that off," Menon said, referring to the pep talk the World Cup winner delivered to the squad.

Ponting had accompanied Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals players from Dharamsala to New Delhi after their IPL contest was called off mid-game on May 8 due to a blackout after Pakistani shelling in Pathankot and Jammu.

It is understood that Ponting chose not to leave India and ensured that fellow Australians Marcus Stoinis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, and Xavier Bartlett also stayed back.

"The foreign players are not used to something like this. So, it was natural for them to feel anxious. Led by Stoinis, they all wanted to leave at the earliest and understandably so. But Ponting has convinced them to stay back post-ceasefire, which I think is remarkable," a source close to the franchise said. South African Marco Jansen flew out to Dubai.

The IPL is set to resume after a week, and clearly, Ponting wants his players to remain focused for the playoffs. Punjab are third in the points table and are one of the teams with a great chance of making it to the playoffs at the end of the league phase.

The Kings signed up Ponting ahead of IPL 2025, and he got them a fighting team by securing some of the finest players from the auction. Captain Shreyas Iyer was the biggest of the names, and he also managed to land Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, and Jansen, among others.