Ricky Ponting to wipe out England players to overhaul Punjab Kings?

New Delhi: Discussions regarding the edition of the IPL in 2025 have already gained momentum, with heavy off-season coaching changes already making waves. One of the largest such decisions has been that Ricky Ponting will likely be leaving Delhi Capitals for Punjab Kings. Having spent 5 seasons at Delhi, the former Australian captain is all set to don the jersey of a franchise which failed to have a lot to cheer about within the hot past.

Going by the eye view of Aakash Chopra with the IPL auction nearing in November and the teams are all set with their retention lists, he throws light on how he sees Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings to shape up because the former Indian opener makes a speciality of key areas the franchise needs to go having a look into in his updated discussion on his YouTube channel.

“What is going to you predict from Ricky Ponting? On the starting place, I think the gathering of English players there'll get removed. Every person will likely be sent, those bought for 18 crores or 12 crores. You won’t have so many English players there now,” said Chopra.

But Chopra feels that Ponting will not hold a core group of the English superstars the team has in Punjab, including the likes of Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone. It'll also leave out Chris Woakes who prove to be section of the team in 2024. Coming into the following auction, Chopra believes that Ponting will also seek for known Australian players to deepen the playing eleven.

“Now there will likely be some change there. Now you possibly can definitely have Australian players there. Ponting placed a lot of faith in his compatriots with Delhi, including David Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Mitchell Marsh over time,” he added.

“You're going to to search out that the Australian players within the Delhi Capitals camp will likely be released and a couple of of them will change into section of Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings. I am not saying he is biased but wherever you see Ricky, you to search out a rather bigger Australian contingent there because he knows them well.”

Delhi is anticipated to liberate David Warner, who recently lost his position to Fraser-McGurk, but may focal point on retaining the explosive young opener. The team also featured Mitchell Marsh and pacer Jhye Richardson, while Nathan Ellis prove to be the sole Australian player within the Punjab squad for the duration of the 2024 season.

The side hasn’t been ready to make it to the playoffs since 2014 and have had four sixth-placed seasons in succession from 2019 to 2022 earlier than two disappointing seasons in 2021 and 2022, finishing eighth and Ninth. Cricket expert Aakash Chopra expects big changes sooner than the emblem new season because the franchise looks to turn its fortunes.

“An extra thing will change, or not it is the variety of captains that have been made. They've had sixteen captains and the Seventeenth one will likely be made this year. Now since Shikhar Dhawan has taken retirement, they may possibly seek for a fresh captain,” concluded Chopra.

Punjab Kings and Ricky Ponting face significant questions regarding the core team they may possibly bring into the auction and the essential choices they may possibly make.