File photo of Ricky Ponting (left) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi.© BCCI
Ricky Ponting is free to join any Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise at the moment as the legendary player and coach parted ways with Delhi Capitals (DC) in July this year. Ponting, a two-time World Cup winning captain of Australia, came on board with DC in 2018 and while the team reached its maiden final in 2021, the performance in the following years did not matched that early promise. Despite not shining with his coaching results in IPL, Ponting must be in the list of many franchises currently.
As the IPL 2025 mega auction is getting closer, rumours are high about Ponting joining defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In a recent interaction, Ponting too showed his keen interest on continuing his IPL run, though with a different franchise this time.
"There might be a few opportunities coming up in IPL in the next few weeks, and we'll see what happens," Ponting told on Sky Sports.
KKR are looking to rope in Ponting or Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara as the replacement of former mentor Gautam Gambhir, as per a Hindustan Times report.
Gambhir left the role of KKR mentor after being named the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
Meanwhile, Ponting remains keen on taking up coaching opportunities in IPL following his exit from DC.
Ponting, who left his role as Delhi Capitals' head coach after a seven-year stint, acknowledged that the lack of silverware led to his exit from the IPL side, but he wants to throw his hat in the ring again.
"I'd love to coach again in the IPL. I've had a great time every year that I've been involved, whether that was in the early days as a player or the couple of years I had at Mumbai as head coach there," he said on The ICC Review podcast.
"I've had seven seasons at Delhi, which unfortunately didn't really work out the way that I would have wanted and certainly the way that the franchise would have wanted."
"Me going there was all about trying to bring some silverware to the team and that didn't happen," he conceded.
(With PTI Inputs)