The winds of change at Punjab Kings

In the late hours of April 12, Shreyas Iyer fielded questions from the expert panel of the broadcasters on what had just happened. "It makes me laugh..." offered the Punjab Kings captain, after his side failed to defend 245 in Hyderabad. This was just their fifth game of the season, too soon to be an inflexion point for the worse after a bright start. But, stranger things have happened in this league, more dramatic trajectories forged after one morale-draining defeat.

Punjab Kings were equipped with an environment to quickly move on, helped in part by the short turnaround time in their IPL schedule. But the next big hurdle shook them up almost immediately. At the halfway stage against KKR in Chandigarh three days later, they had a mere 111 runs to defend. All the batting positives, highlighted in the dressing room post the SRH-fixture, disappeared without a trace. But the bowlers swooped in to save the day, giving the team a performance for the ages. "I have coached a lot of games in the IPL and that might just be about the best win I ever had," said the man who walked into a setup devoid of direction and flipped it around in his maiden attempt.

Since winning his first IPL title as head coach with Mumbai Indians in 2015, Ricky Ponting has been drawn to potential restoration projects in the tournament. In 2018, he rocked up at Delhi Daredevils - the erstwhile name for Delhi Capitals - and declared that he was there to win the title. The opposite transpired that season as Delhi finished eighth but the following cycle was by far Delhi's best. They got progressively better, ending at third, second and first on the points table in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively, with the second of those seasons even earning them a runners-up medal. The bonds forged during this tenure with a young but intuitive captain Shreyas paved the way for a reunion in 2025.

Punjab Kings entered the mega auction in November with the fattest purse of INR 110.5 crore, and had the option of bringing either of his two captains at Delhi - Shreyas or Rishabh Pant, who led DC from 2021 onwards in Shreyas' injury-hit absence. In Ponting's mind, the choice was clear.

"I was pretty keen to work with him [Shreyas] again," Ponting said. "It was pretty obvious [from] how much money I was willing to spend on him at the auction. We had a great working relationship in Delhi, we made a final [IPL 2020] in Delhi under his captaincy.

"I've known him as a person and as a player for a long time. He's a quality person and when you've got quality people around your team, when you're trying to make a difference and you're trying to change culture, that's what you need. If you spoke to the players individually, I think every single one of them would give Shreyas a great rap because he has spent a lot of time with them," he added.

With the power of hindsight, the brainstrust at PBKS can celebrate their win that predates the season - of bringing in a coach who has commanded authority everywhere he's gone and a captain of his choice - fresh off title wins in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, IPL and T20 World Cup in 2024. Here too, Ponting started out with the big talk - the intent to build the greatest-ever Punjab team in the IPL, and his flamboyant skipper has shown gumption to match that in every step of the way. Granted, the bar is low to pull that off at Punjab Kings, a team that has repeatedly loitered in the mid to lower strata of the points table since a solo final appearance in 2014. But the standards set this season have been sky high, and consistently so.

Chennai Super Kings of 2023 were the earliest to change their batting ways to adapt to the impact substitute era, and Sunrisers Hyderabad of 2024 latched on and took it forward. The 2025 iteration of PBKS has stormed that party with young, uninhibited batters in tow. All through the season, the PBKS players and the coaching staff have spoken about freedom, but maximising such an environment begins with first putting together the right ingredients.

Once Ponting was in the building, the auction and retention decisions reflected his ideas straightaway. They took the tough call of letting Ashutosh Sharma go in favour of two other uncapped retentions in Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh, but made up for it with more inspired uncapped signings. Priyansh Arya having multiple suitors wasn't a surprise - he'd lit up the Delhi T20 league with 36 runs in an over, two centuries and a season tally of 605 in 10 innings at a strike rate close to 200.

PBKS trusted him to bring the same swagger at a level above in the IPL and went the distance. Nehal Wadhera was another such acquisition, chomping at the bit for a breakthrough season after the opportunities earned at Mumbai Indians in 2023 and 2024. Over the last two months, these four - two openers, one middle-order batter and a finisher - have brought PBKS' expansive batting plans to life.

PBKS' fab (uncapped) four of IPL 2025

**Numbers until the end of league stage

PBKS have also been blessed with Shreyas levelling up with the bat after a middling season in 2024 by his standards. 2025 is already his best ever, where he has been an all-phase tormentor. Shreyas has struck at 148.38 in the PowerPlay, 164.57 in the middle-overs and 216.12 at the death.

Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2024 and 2025

This top-order has turned a side in perpetual distress into a fun, all ablaze unit that refuses to take the foot off the pedal. All of this has been a refreshing turn of events for a team that seemed hardwired to underwhelm for more than a decade. Ponting and Shreyas, coming together at the prime of their coaching and playing careers, have triggered the winds of change at PBKS, irrespective of how the next few days transpire for them.