Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting is very much impressed with his team's performance in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has a great rapport with the captain, Shreyas Iyer, and has repeatedly expressed why he was adamant to get him in the mega auction. Meanwhile, PBKS' uncapped players have performed well this season and are one of the reasons why they made it to the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Ponting has predicted that four of his team's uncapped players will play for India sooner or later.
In an interview with PTI, Ponting predicted that players like Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera, and Shashank Singh will play for India in the future. He also lauded Harpreet Brar and Vijaykumar Vyshak for their contribution to the team this season. "There are four of them who can (play for India). You look at Priyansh Arya. He has been a revelation for us at the top of the order. I must have watched, I don't know how many hours of video I watched on him going into the auction, but he was the one that I wanted to make sure that we got.
"Prabh is probably the obvious one when you talk about playing for India. Still only 24 years of age. I read somewhere the other day that he's now got the most runs for an uncapped player in IPL history. Wadhera is someone that I think could play for India as well in the middle order. And Shashank, you've only got to look at the cold, hard numbers with him. His strike rate and boundary percentage at the end of innings is as good as anyone going around. So again, this year, he struck at 185 or something like that (in the league stage). All four of those guys could play," Ponting said.
Punjab Kings are set to play against Royal Challengers Bengaluru today in the first qualifier, with a place in the final at stake. The last time RCB played the final was back in 2016 ,while Punjab made it to the summit clash of the IPL in 2014. Ponting will be hoping that his team steps up to the biggest challenge.
