'If he persist this way then the title is...': Ex-India star accuses Ricky Ponting of bias towards 'foreigners' at Punjab Kings

Former Australian captain and current IPL franchise Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting is once again facing criticism for his decision to promote Australian players up the batting order against in-form Indian cricketers during Saturday's match against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

In this pivotal game, PBKS openers Prabhsimaran Singh (83 runs off 49 balls) and Priyansh Arya (69 runs off 35 balls) propelled their team past the 120-run mark in just under 12 overs. After Arya was dismissed at the end of the 12th over, Prabhsimaran followed suit in the 15th over.

When Arya was replaced at the crease by Shreyas Iyer, the choice of who would bat at number 4 for PBKS raised eyebrows, as the struggling Glenn Maxwell came in instead of Shashank Singh or Nehal Wadhera.

Maxwell's struggles continued this season, and he was eventually dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy for just 7 runs off 8 balls in the 17th over. Even after Maxwell's exit, PBKS opted not to send in their Indian batsmen, instead relying on South African Marco Jansen (3 runs off 7 balls) and Australian Josh Inglis (11 runs off 6 balls).

Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary expressed his disappointment with PBKS's strategy of prioritizing foreign players over in-form Indian batsmen, even suggesting that the franchise's chances of winning the IPL this season were hampered by a "lack of confidence" in local talent. With skipper Iyer at the crease, the responsibility for this decision to favor foreign players fell directly on coach Ricky Ponting.

In a post on X (Formerly Twitter), Tiwary wrote, “My gut feeling says that punjab team will not be able to win the #IPL trophy this season because what I saw today when they were batting was, the coach didn’t send Indian inform batters Nehal wadera and Shasank singh, instead he trusted his foreign players to deliver, but they cudnt and clearly showed lack of confidence in Indian players down the order. If he persist in this way then the title is far from them irrespective of there qualification in top two.”

My gut feeling says that punjab team will not be able to win the #IPL trophy this season because what I saw today when they were batting was, the coach didn’t send Indian inform batters Nehal wadera and Shasank singh, instead he trusted his foreign players to deliver, but they…

— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) April 26, 2025

Ponting has been involved in IPL controversy before, notably for selecting 5 Australian players out of the 8 foreign player quota during the IPL 2025 mega auction. The Australian talent available with the franchise includes Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, and Xavier Bartlett.

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