Punjab Kings secured their second victory of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 by defeating five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday.
Following the win, head coach Ricky Ponting praised the uncapped Indian players in the PBKS squad as “pretty special.”
On JioHotstar, Ponting discussed the team's strategy centred on young uncapped players. Among those featuring in Friday's match were Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera and Vijaykumar Vyshak.
He said, “Some of our young Indian talent, the guys at the top of the order, are pretty special. To build some of those Aussie guys around them, we had a really clear strategy going into the auction last year about trying to rebuild this whole team from the bottom up, and change and be different as a franchise. By just keeping Prabhsimran and Shashank, it gave us an opportunity for me to pick the guys that I wanted to work with.”
Regarding the acquisition of senior Indian players in the auction, Ponting added, “Shreyas was obviously number one on the list. But it was really important to get the highest-quality Indian players into our team with Arshdeep and Yuzi.”
Punjab Kings defeated CSK by five wickets, successfully chasing a target of 210 runs with eight balls to spare. Key contributions came from Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and captain Shreyas Iyer.
After winning the toss and opting to field, CSK set a target of 210, supported by Mhatre’s 73 runs, Shivam Dube's unbeaten 45 and Sarfaraz Khan's 32 off 12 deliveries.
Reflecting on the win, Ponting said, “The toss went our way again, and we were really keen to chase on that pitch. It looked like a belter of a wicket with a little bit of grass on it, something that we’re not used to seeing in Chennai.”
Punjab Kings will face Kolkata Knight Riders in their next IPL match on Monday at Eden Gardens.
On the upcoming encounter, Ponting stated, “We’re happy, but you can’t afford to be too happy in a tournament like this. We’ve got a game in a couple of days at Eden Gardens, and that’s going to be a high-scoring game.”