Ricky Ponting, head coach at Punjab Kings, has termed Pakistan Super League (PSL) as the reason for not being able to find a good replacement for injured stars Glenn Maxwell and Lockie Ferguson for IPL 2025. He said that the overlapping schedule does not let many quality options be available. Ferguson was hurt during a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in mid-April. Maxwell broke his finger in practice just before playing against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 26. Still, PBKS defeated Chennai Super Kings and is standing second in the points table with six wins out of ten games.
Soon, we will be signing replacements; Ponting said, “We’ve got time as we’ve got until our 12th match against Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala. We are working with the squad we have and checking out players. There are backup options like Azmatullah Omarzai and one who hasn’t played yet, Aaron Hardie. It all depends on conditions, and when we get to Dharamsala, we’ll be making some choices, especially with the ball swinging and bouncing there.”
He went on: We have been patient. Maxi’s injury is new, and Lockie’s injury has been for two, three weeks. At the same time, it’s not easy to find quality replacements because of PSL commitments. So we have been looking to get in younger Indian players for any potential roles. We shall take some to Dharamsala, and they were training with us yesterday. Some of them could earn contracts with Punjab. We want to finalize things this week, before our 12th game. Keep a lookout.
Meanwhile, Corbin Bosch was signed by the Mumbai Indians as a replacement despite already having a contract with the PSL. Unfortunately, the player has now been banned from the league for one year.
