Ricky Ponting called Punjab Kings’ 16-run win over KKR the best of his coaching career after defending just 111.
Ricky Ponting was full of praise for his players after Punjab Kings pulled off a stunning 16-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders in a low-scoring thriller at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Tuesday.
After being bowled out for just 111, Punjab bounced back strongly with the ball to skittle out KKR for 95. Yuzvendra Chahal was the star of the show, picking up four wickets for 28 runs in his four overs, while Marco Jansen claimed three to complete an unforgettable comeback.
Speaking after the game, Ponting called the result the finest win of his coaching career in the IPL.
“Wins like this are always the sweetest ones. If we can pull this off, then this would be as good a win as most guys have probably been involved in. I have coached a lot of games in the IPL and that might just be about the best win that I have ever had. We just said that wins like this are always the sweetest ones. If we can pull this off, then this would be as good as a win most guys have probably been involved in,” he said.
The win came at a crucial moment for Punjab, who had recently suffered a high-scoring defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in which they failed to defend a mammoth 245-run total.
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Opting to bat first at home, PBKS got off to a flying start with Prabhsimran Singh (30) and Priyansh Arya (22) adding 39 runs in just 3.1 overs. However, Harshit Rana’s three quick wickets — removing Prabhsimran, Priyansh and Shreyas Iyer — caused a dramatic collapse. Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine also chipped in with two wickets each, as Punjab were bowled out in just 15.3 overs.
KKR looked comfortable in their chase, reaching 62 for the loss of two wickets. But the innings unravelled from there, with Chahal triggering the collapse. The visitors lost their next eight wickets for just 33 runs. Jansen’s pace, along with key wickets from Xavier Bartlett, Glenn Maxwell and Arshdeep Singh, sealed a famous victory for Punjab.
Ponting reflected on the match as a turning point for the season. “Just about the best win that I have ever had and a season-defining moment. The heart rate still up a bit for me — it’s probably up over 200. I do not need many of those games like that at my age of over 50 now. 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,” Ponting said.
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