Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) clinical win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Wednesday night not only pushed them closer to the playoffs but also triggered conversations about Shreyas Iyer’s impressive leadership, with coach showering a huge amount of praise.
In the game played at Chepauk, PBKS were guided by a dominating 72-run knock from captain Shreyas Iyer to chase down CSK’s 190, securing an important win that lifted them to second place in the points table. After the game, Ponting spoke about Iyer’s evolving leadership and called it one of the main factors of the team’s success.
Having worked with Iyer during their stint at Delhi Capitals (DC) from 2019 to 2021, Ponting has been closely observing the batter’s growth. Now back together at PBKS, the coach has seen improvement in the captain’s game sense and calmness under pressure.
“He’s a lot more confident in himself now than he was, and that comes with experience. I mean, he won the IPL last year as a captain, so when you’ve done that and you’ve got that experience behind you and you believe and trust in your own instincts, I think that’s the biggest thing with captaincy, especially in a T20 game when everything around you is happening so fast,” Ponting said in his post-match press conference.
Managed to create an environment that everybody is really happy about: Ponting
Iyer’s call to bring Yuzvendra Chahal against MS Dhoni in the 19th over was surprising yet effective. The veteran wicketkeeper-batter fell for 11, triggering a collapse that saw Chahal claim a hat-trick. In reply, Iyer anchored the innings brilliantly. From being on 28 off 23, he accelerated to a 32-ball half-century and finished with 72 off 41 balls, laced with five fours and four sixes.
“He’s a more mature player now, I think he understands the game and game situations probably better than ever before, and I think that was showcased there tonight, to be able to play the way that he did. You know, he’ll be disappointed with himself that he didn’t hit the winning runs, he didn’t get his team across the line, because I know how much he prides himself on being the man that’s there at the end to win games. But look, I love working with him, he talks with all the players, all the players love working with him. The way he communicates with them, whether it’s during the game or at practice or back at the team hotel… we’ve managed to create a really good environment that everybody seems to be really happy in and the boys are playing some good cricket in. So, all in all, it was another good performance from us tonight,” Ponting added.
Notably, improvement hasn’t been restricted to just leadership. Once exposed to short-pitched bowling, he has made a technical change by opening his stance and getting his right eye aligned to the ball, helping him score heavily against short deliveries this season.
“I’ve had nothing to do with that. You guys will see how his stance has evolved. He’s opened his stance up a little bit. He’s getting his right eye around more to the release point of the ball. And with his shoulders being open, he’s able to create some more access to the ball when the ball is back in towards his body. So that’s stuff that he’s all worked out himself,” Ponting concluded.
