“I wanted to work with Shreyas,” Ponting told Star Sports. “I’ve worked with him before and he is a great guy and a great player. He’ll be a great leader for our team if we decide to go that way, which I’m pretty sure we probably will. And obviously, he was the championship-winning captain last year. So there are lots of great things about bringing him to Punjab.”
“Left-arm fast bowler, obviously, with a great skill set with the new ball and the old ball and, you know, one of India’s leading wicket-takers in T20 cricket. So he was a perfect fit for us to come back into the Punjab Kings”
Ricky Ponting on Arshdeep Singh
The two had worked together at Delhi Capitals (DC) before Iyer moved to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), whom he led to the title in IPL 2024.
Chahal, meanwhile, has a new home after having played for Mumbai Indians (MI), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). He said he “deserves” the price he was bought for.
Speaking to JioCinema, Chahal said, “I was quite nervous and anxious because this amount is what I got in the last three seasons combined.
“I had a hunch and even my friends told me that I’d go to Punjab, but I had no idea it would be for such a high price. I had 12 crore-13 crore in mind, but I do deserve this. Wherever you go, you always have the opportunity to learn and grow, and I’ll make sure to work hard and deliver my best.”
“So, we felt so far that the auction’s gone exactly the way we wanted. We’ve got a bit of work to do in the back half this afternoon, but that’s the fun of it.”
As for Arshdeep, he has been one of the IPL’s great success stories. He has only ever played for PBKS, was released ahead of this auction, and then bought back to continue the relationship and add to the 76 wickets he has.
“We had certain targets coming into the auction as every team does. Arshdeep was obviously the first one,” Ponting said. “He’s been in our franchise for a number of years. I was really keen to get him back. Left-arm fast bowler, obviously, with a great skill set with the new ball and the old ball and, you know, one of India’s leading wicket-takers in T20 cricket. So he was a perfect fit for us.”
