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Former Australia captain and Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting expressed disappointment with the team’s players despite the team’s win over Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday.
PBKS kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating LSG by 7 wickets and 2 overs to spare at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, although Punjab’s fate is no longer in their hands.
Shreyas Iyer’s first IPL century keeps Punjab alive
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer’s decision to bowl first went a bit awry as Josh Inglis took 16 runs in the very first over bowled by Arshdeep Singh. After this Azmatullah Omarzai dismissed Arshin Kulkarni on the first ball of the second over.
Nicholas Pooran was also unable to continue his new form, but Ayush Badoni kept the Punjab bowlers in check. Badoni scored 43 runs in a partnership of 49 runs with Inglis. Inglis continued his good form by scoring 72 runs in the end and added 65 runs with Rishabh Pant.
Abdul Samad scored an unbeaten 37 to revive the LSG innings and set PBKS a respectable target of 197 runs.
Mohammed Shami sent Priyansh Arya to the pavilion on the first ball of the chase and Cooper Connolly also fell after some time. But Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer made sure there were no other hurdles.
After Prabhasimran was dismissed by Rishabh Pant for 20 off the bowling of Arjun Tendulkar, he and Iyer took advantage of the opportunity and scored 140 runs in about 12 overs. Eventually Arjun returned to trap the man in front of him, but it was too late.
Iyer was racing against the scoreboard for his century, but eventually completed his century by hitting a six when he was batting on 94 and Punjab needed 3 runs to win.
“We were lazy on the field” – Ricky Ponting
After the match, PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting spoke to the broadcasters and lamented his team’s sloppiness on the field. Ponting felt that Punjab’s fielders gave away about 20 runs more than they ideally should have given away.
Ponting said, “We’ve done it the hard way, let’s put it this way. We’ve done what we needed to do today. There was carelessness in the field again, giving away 20 more runs than they should have got.” Said.
Ponting praised Iyer and his maiden IPL century which won the match for Punjab.
“Very clinical chase, especially getting into trouble early on. The captain has done that all season. Whenever there’s a run chase like this, he puts his hand up every time and gets the job done. It’s his first IPL century tonight. We’ll celebrate it, and then we’ll sit and wait for the results tomorrow,” he said.
Ponting also reflected on Punjab’s two-part season. Punjab remained unbeaten in its 7 matches in the tournament and lost six consecutive matches, reducing its chances of reaching the playoffs.
“The level of cricket we played in the first half was a level I had never seen before. And then we made some crucial mistakes at different times in the last six matches. Today was much better,” the PBKS coach said.
Also read: Yuzvendra Chahal wants Rohit Sharma to score a double century, Vaibhav Suryavanshi out to save PBKS’ playoff hopes
PBKS Qualification Scenario
After two halves of their season, Punjab Kings are now dependent on other results to send them into the top four.
On Sunday, Punjab needs Delhi Capitals to beat Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders to beat Mumbai Indians.
If RR beats MI, Punjab will be out. And if RR doesn’t beat MI, but KKR beats DC, it will turn into an NRR battle between them and Punjab.
ALSO READ: IPL 2026 playoff race: RR, KKR and PBKS qualification scenarios explained