Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes Shreyas Iyer’s recent strong performance for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025, including an unbeaten 87 in Qualifier 2, is driven by his omission from India’s Test squad for the upcoming England tour. Iyer’s innings helped PBKS secure a five-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, advancing them to the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Punjab Kings now stand a chance to win their first-ever IPL championship if they overcome RCB in the title clash.“I actually was gutted…but he’s accepted that really well and he’s moved on. He’s just got that real hunger in his eyes to do well every time that he plays for us here and wants to win games of cricket and wants to evolve and develop into the best leader and captain that he can be.”Ponting expressed disappointment over Iyer’s Test squad exclusion, noting that other selected players made the cut based on similar credentials.
“Certain other players that have been picked in that (Test) squad have done it on the back of good first-class cricket and good IPL seasons leading up to that selection and Shreyas has done absolutely everything the same as some of those other players. So I was disappointed that he didn’t get picked as I actually felt that he would get picked. But he didn’t. And I think that probably makes him a little bit hungrier for us when these playoff games come around.”Ponting and Iyer share a successful history from their time at Delhi Capitals, where they reached the playoffs consistently from 2019 to 2021, including a finals appearance in 2020.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?“We talk a lot together about the game and tactics, and, I think he said last night that he said ‘that I leave it to Ricky to look after the tactical stuff and pick the players, and then he hands it over to me and I go and execute it out on the field’. And that’s the way we’ve worked, this year and it’s been nice to get that sort of working relationship back together again.”Their collaborative approach has proven effective, with Ponting handling tactical aspects while Iyer executes the plans on the field.
