Ricky Ponting, Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach, talked about whether the franchise will give it their all for keeper-batter in the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction. The 2-day event will be held on February 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Rishabh Pant is one of the most talked-about players entering the auction after being released by the Delhi Capitals. There are reports that the Punjab Kings may pursue Pant, and based on their auction purse, the franchise is one of the favorites to have Pant in their roster.
Rishabh Pant is part of Marquee Set 1 in the auction, with a base price of INR 2 crore. The majority of cricket commentators forecast Pant to be the most expensive option in the auction.
Ricky Ponting, the Punjab Kings' recently appointed head coach who flew down to Jeddah on Saturday, has disclosed whether he plans to pursue Pant in the mega auction.
“Oh look, we've spoken about lots of players in the auction. I mean, Rishabh is going to be a target for most teams, you'd think. Certainly, the ones that have kept a big enough purse. So we go into the auction with the biggest purse, but when you think about that when you break it down, we've only kept the two players," Ponting told Star Sports.
Pant and Ponting collaborated at Delhi Capitals. However, Ponting quit as the franchise's coach, and Pant later chose to enter the auction pool.
Speaking further about Pant, Ponting said, "So by the time we've bought another three or four players, our purse is going to be back the same as everyone else's. So it's not that big of an advantage, only the fact that we probably should be able to lock away our top three or four picks going into the auction."
"So yeah, look, we've spoken about Rishabh, we've spoken about lots of players, and now we have to make sure that we just stick to our strategy," he added.
Punjab Kings have retained only two players Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. The franchise therefore has the biggest auction purse of INR 110.5 crore. However, the franchise needs to buy a minimum of 16 players to fill their squad.
