Ricky Ponting names three ‘non-negotiable’ cricketers Punjab Kings signed in 2025 – India TV

Leading to the IPL 2025 mega-auction, Punjab Kings had the biggest purse worth INR 110.5 crore. They spent wisely as the franchise signed the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson among other match-winning cricketers. With that, they now hope to produce a better performance in the forthcoming season and challenge for the title.

Head coach Ricky Ponting meanwhile will play a crucial role in the project. After successful spells in Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, the former Australia international has a new challenge in Punjab as the franchise has a history of sacking coaching staff if the team fails to perform. Ponting will have to deal with that pressure but the franchise assured him of supporting him throughout and also gave him a free hand to signing cricketers in the auction. 

Speaking on the same, the 50-year-old added that he wanted to sign Shreyas, Arshdeep and Chahal at any cost in the auction. Ponting added that these three cricketers were non-negotiable to him and believes that the Indian unit of PBKS is perfect at the moment. 

“There were three players that I wanted to bring in. One who has been at Punjab Kings for three or four years Arshdeep Singh. I also wanted to bring in a captain who I have worked with before and who has had a lot of success. So, we went after Shreyas Iyer. I also wanted to bring in Yuzi. So the Indian guys that we have are perfect,” he said in a conversation with The Howie Games podcast.

“And then, we had to make a few tweaks as the auction went on to make sure we ended up with a really good squad. I am trying to make things different and rebuild and have the right people around me. But these three were non-negotiables,” Ponting added.