We lost momentum at a critical time, says Punjab Kings head coach Ponting

Punjab Kings head coach Ponting said that a little bit of inexperience in the middle overs cost the team and that a little bit of experience would have helped the team

HYDERABAD: It is a case of being so near and yet so far for Ricky Ponting and his team Punjab Kings!

He and his team did almost everything right before faltering in the final and missing a golden chance of holding aloft the trophy. The grim face of Ponting, whom his captain Shreyas Iyer described as a ‘monk’ and the head coach also revealed that he didn’t see whether the last ball of the match was hit for a six or a four by Shashank, said it all.

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Punjab Kings head coach Ponting said that a little bit of inexperience in the middle overs cost the team and that a little bit of experience would have helped the team.

Reflecting on the loss after losing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night, 50-year-old Ponting said there would be no excuses either from him or from the players.

“We just lost a bit of momentum at a critical time, you know, probably the last couple of overs of the power play, you could feel that it just started, that momentum just started to go away a little bit,” the former Australian captain said. “Probably the four or five overs outside the power play, we just lost momentum, we lost critical wickets, you know, Krunal Pandya did an exceptional job with the overs that he bowled,” Ponting said.

“We, we had the right, the right personnel in the right phases of the game, we just didn’t get the job done tonight. Even tactically, I think RCB was good there, you know, Hazelwood bowled in the third, he’s normally bowled a little bit later in the power play than that, so they probably identified that they need to try to change the momentum,” he said.

“This group being as young as it is, we’ll be back bigger and stronger next season. I made it pretty clear when I was appointed as head coach that I wanted to make sure things were different, done in a certain way, and that’s from the top, you know, that’s from the owners to the head coach all the way down to the bus driver, really,” Ponting said.

“We’ve had a lot of fun, we’ve worked hard, we’ve had our challenges as well. I couldn’t be prouder of the group, I couldn’t be more proud of the franchise,” he said. “Shreyas was determined, like me, to come to a new team and a new franchise and make an immediate difference to the set-up and he’s done that, you know. He’s the only captain now, I think, to take three different franchises to three IPL finals, so that probably says enough about him as a leader,” Ponting said.

“You can see what it (IPL Trophy) meant to him (Virat Kohli) and his wife and all the RCB fans to finally get the monkey off their back and win the IPL title. but I’m not sure how much of a celebrator Virat is, but I reckon he’ll be celebrating long and hard tonight and the next couple of days, they deserve to be able to do that,” he said.

“So, hopefully in 12 months, that’s the Punjab Kings out there doing that and I’ll hopefully have another title there somewhere,” said one of the modern day greats.

“Winning an IPL is five levels below Test cricket. Yes, I understand that, I mean, I’m probably one of the biggest purists of the game that is still involved in the game, whether I’m coaching or commentating. You know my first love is Test match cricket, always will be,” said Ponting, one of the all-time greats.

“I totally understand what he (Kohli) means (saying that Test cricket is the ultimate format), you know, he had a magnificent Test match career and an even better white ball career that’s obviously still going. So yes, I can understand what he means, ” Ponting signed off.