Punjab Kings are on their way to adapting to change as well as having some continuity ahead of the 2025 edition of the IPL as far as their backroom staff is concerned. Punjab parted ways with head coach Trevor Bayliss after a couple of seasons and appointed Ricky Ponting on a four-year contract. Ponting left his role at the Delhi Capitals after seven seasons and got attracted to 'Project Punjab', taking an underperforming team to the title, at least that would be his attempt.
And it seems the work has already begun. As per the news agency PTI, Ponting is set to bring James Hopes, his assistant at the Delhi Capitals, who is likely to be Punjab's bowling coach as well, a role he held for the Capitals. However, the Kings are likely to retain fielding coach Brad Haddin and spin bowling coach Sunil Doshi.
"Brad Haddin and Sunil have been retained. James Hopes is likely to be the fast bowling coach," an IPL source was quoted as saying by PTI. The rest of the support staff will see Ponting pulling the strings with him having already cleared with the team management regarding autonomy for the side and its operations.
Punjab also have some tough decisions to take regarding player retention. Six retentions are allowed but those will also take away a significant amount of money from the purse. Players like Liam Livingstone, Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Nathan Ellis and Jitesh Sharma will be around that discussion.
"Ricky and his team will decide on the player retention soon," the source added.
Several reports stated that Punjab might only keep Arshdeep as their pre-auction retention while looking to buy back the likes of Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran with the breakout star from the 2024 edition, Shashank Singh being the uncapped retention. Will Punjab be able to turn their fortune around under Ponting?
