IPL 2025: Ponting Says PBKS ‘Haven’t Achieved Anything Yet’ After Sealing Top-Two Spot With MI Win

Punjab Kings (PBKS) ensured a top-two finish in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 group stage after securing a seven-wicket win against Mumbai Indians (MI) on 26 May. However, despite the win sealing their first playoff appearance since 2014, head coach Ricky Ponting warned that the team hasn’t “achieved anything yet”. (As It Happened)

“It (top two) is a great achievement till now, but really, if you look back, we haven’t achieved anything yet,” Ponting said, as per ESPNcricinfo. “That’s the one thing I've been saying to the players since the moment we qualified.”

“The vision for me was always to finish in the top two, and we’ve got there now,” he added.

The win over MI propelled PBKS to the top with 19 points, although Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) can also go level with them if they win their final group-stage match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

A top-two finish will guarantee PBKS a place in Qualifier 1 in the playoffs, where the Punjab-based franchise will get a second chance if they lose their first match. It’s a great advantage to have in their pursuit of their maiden title, but Ponting warned against complacency.

“We’ve enjoyed our time in each other’s company for the last ten weeks,” he said. “But we’ve got another week to go yet.”

The Australian head coach also heaped praise on captain Shreyas Iyer, with whom he had worked before for Delhi Capitals (DC). In fact, it was Ponting’s fixation on acquiring his services that saw Punjab bid as high as INR 26.75 crore for the batter in the mega auction.

“It was pretty obvious that how much money I was willing to spend on him at the auction,” Ponting said. Iyer, for now, seems to have repaid that faith, with 514 runs in 14 matches at an average of 51, including five half-centuries.

In the previous match against MI, the captain was unbeaten at 26 runs, after two stunning knocks from Priyansh Arya (62 off 35) and Josh Inglish (73 off 42) wrapped up an easy chase for the Kings with nine balls to spare.