About two months after he parted ways with Delhi Capitals as head coach, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has signed a four-year contract to be the head coach at Punjab Kings. In this interview, in Nottingham, Ponting tells us why he decided to accept the new job, what he hopes for in the mega-auction, and why he was disappointed with the way his Capitals tenure ended.
Punjab are the third franchise where you will be head coach. Happy to back in the IPL?
Yeah, I'm very happy to be back in the IPL. It's been such a big part of my life, it's been ten or 11 years now that I have been going to the IPL. The thing that keeps drawing me back is the level of cricket and the quality of players you get to work with. Obviously, I was disappointed to finish with DC after the seven years there, but I understand all the reasonings behind that.
But now this opportunity's come up with Kings. I see this as a real coaching challenge. It's almost like a coaching project for me, and having spoken to the management and the owners, they understand the path I want to head on. And we are aligned really well so far.
You were in talks with at least two other franchises. What made you eventually decide on Punjab?
Yes, I was talking to a few teams, but it was "Project Punjab" which attracted me. It is a team that hasn't had a lot of success over a long period of time, a team that's changed coaches a lot, so I saw it as a challenge. The other exciting part is that I saw some really exciting youngsters last year at Kings that hopefully we can attract back to the team for this season and put together a team that is going to be good enough to win the IPL. I mean, there's no doubting over the years that the Kings have had good players, have had good teams. They just haven't been able to win it yet. I have a longish-term deal there, and hopefully during that period of time we can win the IPL.
Your deal is for four years, which is interesting considering Punjab have had multiple coaches in the past several years. Was there any particular reason you wanted to sign a long-term contract?
What I have found with the IPL is, it's quite rare that you actually put your perfect team together during a mega auction, which is the first year. You think you are going to, because you have all this money to spend and all these players to buy, but it rarely works out that way. If you look at the better teams and the most successful teams, it's normally been at the end of that cycle where they have actually been able to put their best team together. You start off with one team after the mega auction, and then you are able to do some trades and bring some other players in at mini-auctions.
By the end of three years is when you have probably got your best team. So my theory and philosophy to Punjab Kings was to let me have the three years - by the end of the three years, I think we are going to be able to put a really good squad together, and then one more year after that to have a real crack again if we need to go into another auction.
They were really keen on making it a long-term deal as well. Through that hopefully we can have some sustained success.
How has the IPL evolved as far as coaching goes?
Coaching's a lot more specific in the IPL now. Every team has pretty much got every base covered: you have the fast-bowling coaches, spin-bowling coaches, high-quality fielding coaches, the best analysts going around, who I count as being part of your coaching staff because they play such an important role. So you have a lot of the best coaches in the world there at once. And when you have the best coaches, the best players, you are guaranteed to have high quality of cricket. What the IPL has done by having all of these coaches is, I think, the reason that India are actually as good as they are. There's always been that talent in India, but to have that talent around the best coaches for two or three months every year has helped them become better players.
"What the IPL has done by having all of these coaches is, I think, the reason that India are actually as good as they are"
One thing I have noticed a bit this year is, a lot of the IPL franchises, because they have so many teams now across most T20 leagues, they are looking to have almost full-time coaching staff, which was one of the things that was the undoing with me with DC. They wanted more time and to have an India-based coach on the ground there for most of the year. I couldn't commit to that. That's the way it seems that a lot of the teams are going and it makes perfect sense.
Having said that, it's one thing having full-time coaches, but if you can't get to the players, then you are wasting your time with it anyway, because the players are usually playing Ranji Trophy or some domestic cricket along with international cricket. So it's very rare that the coaches are going to spend quality time with those players during the off-season.
Why did you say you were disappointed with the way your Delhi Capitals tenure ended?
I felt like we created a really good family environment there. As I said, I understand what they want: they said to me that my availability was becoming an issue. And they wanted to pretty much have a full-time head coach. I couldn't commit to that, so I was disappointed that it ended, but I understand the direction they wanted to head going forward.
Everyone that I have been there with, everyone's had a great time. You have only to look at some of the social media posts that Delhi put out straightaway to understand that a lot of the people involved in the franchise were disappointed that I wasn't continuing as well. But the decisions were made.
One other reason why Capitals parted ways with you, we understand, was the absence of an IPL title during your tenure, where they made the playoffs for three consecutive years (2019-21), including the final in 2020, though they then failed to make the knockouts in the last three seasons. Even at Mumbai Indians, where despite helping them win the IPL in 2015 as head coach, your contract was not renewed after it ended in 2016. Does the pressure to win the title weigh heavily on the head coach?
Of course, it's always there. But you actually want that. That's the thing that makes coaching inviting to me. I like having that pressure. It's as close to getting back to playing as you can possibly get. From the moment I finished playing, when that competition stops in your life, it's really hard to replace that again. The closest thing I could find to playing was getting back in the cricket team's change room being a coach and feeling like you are actually playing again. And coaching against guys that I might have played against and guys that are coaching that I played against - I want to beat them. Simple. A cricket change room is where I'm supposed to be.
You feel at home in the change room?
That's my happy place. I have obviously got some great memories through my time in IPL. Mumbai was awesome the first couple of years there [as head coach]. With Delhi, we created a pretty special place even without winning a title. But we made couple of big slip-ups in our mega-auction a couple of years ago [2022] and even probably our player retentions, and that set us back quite a way. And even this year [2024], little things went against us again, with Rishabh [Pant, DC captain] being suspended for a game that we had to win. We missed the playoffs on run rate. Little things like that add up. The results in T20 games are decided by really small margins. And then our season can be defined by really small margins as well. And we have been on the wrong end of those for a couple of years at DC.
Do you think coaches need more empowerment - a free hand and less interference from owners and management?
Yeah, I want the accountability and autonomy. That's one thing I made really clear to the management and owners at Kings straightaway: if you are going to trust me, [then] trust me to put the best team on the park and get the results for you. You hear all these stories and rumours about different teams and interference and all that. Having spoken to the owners and management at Kings, it sounds like that's a fair way from being the way it actually is. But other teams I have been involved in, when owners do get involved, it's just because they are passionate about their team. This is only because they want the best for their team.
It happens at some of the most successful franchises in the IPL as well. There can be a lot made of something that might be a minor issue. Going back to the accountability point, they [Kings] have given me the opportunity to put a coaching group together for the next couple of years. We are a long way down the track to starting to make a few of those pieces of the puzzle fall into place. And they understand the direction that I want to head. That's the most important thing. The fact that they have given me a long-term deal, they have shown great faith and trust in me, and now it's over to me and the player group to make sure we get the results.
In April you told me the captain runs the team and a head coach can only be there to keep the dressing room ready, keep the players motivated and proactive. Will picking the captain at Punjab be the biggest challenge, and a priority for you?
Absolutely, no doubt. That is the first thing I said to the Kings' owners and the management. With this mega auction coming up, either we have to decide to retain someone in our current group that we think is the best person for the job, or we have to go into the auction looking for the best possible candidate, whether that's an Indian or overseas player. And make sure that him and I work together. If the captain and coach are on the same page and work together, that's when the magic happens. That has happened at Chennai [Super Kings] over the years with [MS] Dhoni and [Stephen] Fleming. That's happened with Rohit [Sharma] at Mumbai. You don't get those results without that partnership working well.
And it doesn't matter really whether it is an Indian or overseas captain?
No, it doesn't matter. You just have to get the right person.
Do you reckon taking over just before the mega auction gives you the advantage to exactly pick the players you want for the roles you have in mind?
Yes and no. It is going to depend on the retention numbers. Say, if it's eight players, then all of a sudden that's 80 players [retained, if all ten teams retain that many]. There's not going to be a lot of quality players left in the auction, so putting together a squad then would be more difficult. The more the numbers come down on retention, the easier it's going be to put a squad of players together. In this current Kings group, you think of some of the young Indian players they have: Prabhsimran [Singh], Ashutosh [Sharma], Shashank [Singh], Jitesh [Sharma], Arshdeep [Singh], Harpreet Brar, Harshal [Patel]. Then among overseas lot we have [Liam] Livingstone, [Sam] Curran, [Kagiso] Rabada, [Jonny] Bairstow - there's enough quality.
You have a decade's worth of coaching experience in the IPL already. On the personal front, are there any areas you want to get better at in the coming years?
For me to go to a new team, I'm basically setting up everything that I set up at the start [of my stint] at DC. At DC over the last few years we had a base, we knew what we wanted to do, things sort of looked after themselves, the family environment was created, people turned up… working hard, having fun, enjoying themselves, winning games is what it's all about. But for me now, this [Kings] is a fresh start.
Everything for me has to be perfect. Everything's got to fall in place as far as appointments, coaches, support staff around the group. We have already started talking about retentions, but when the numbers come out, we'll have a clear vision of what we want to do there and then we start planning for the auction.
The biggest thing that I want to do at Punjab Kings is make everyone aware that it's going to be a different place. We are not going to sit back and just accept mediocrity and finishing down the bottom and have other people sit back and talk about the way the franchise is going. It is going to be more dynamic. And people are going to be talking about this team and this franchise in a different way than ever before.
Finally: how's your Punjabi?
(Bursts out laughing) Not good yet! I noticed on social media, fans putting up pictures of me wearing the turban.
I'm really excited. There's already a core of players there that can turn things around quickly. I'm excited by what the management and the owners are talking about, and to have that accountability and a bit of autonomy on what I can do to build a group is the most exciting thing. The reason that I chose this franchise over the others - there are other jobs there that were probably a little bit easier, if you like - but this is the best challenge for me. And the end result could be the most satisfying as well.