“The best win I have ever had as a coach” - PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting after a 16-run win over KKR

Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting termed the PBKS vs KKR match as the best in his career as a coach after Punjab bagged a 16-run thrilling win in a low-scoring encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 31st match of the IPL 2025 season at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh, on Tuesday, April 16.

Moving into the details of the game, the Punjab-based franchise went on to defend 111 runs with a 16-run win. Interestingly, they came into this game after failing to defend 245 runs against the SRH side in Hyderabad.

"Just about the best win that I've ever had and a season-defining moment. The heart rate still up a bit for me - it's probably up over 200. I don't need many of those games like that at my age of over 50 now. It just goes to show how funny a game it is. Only three days ago, we couldn't defend 246 [245] and here we are, defending 112 [111] with 16 runs up our sleeves. We actually said to the guys at the halfway mark that really small chases like this are sometimes the hardest. The wicket wasn't easy. You can see right through the game it was holding up," Ricky Ponting told the broadcasters after the victory.

After opting to bat first, PBKS batters could post only 111 runs in 15.3 overs, with Prabhsimran Singh (30) and Priyansh Arya (22) being the star batters for their side. Harshit Rana was the star of the show for KKR, scalping three wickets.

In the chase, KKR got all out for 95 runs in 15.1 overs, losing the game by 16 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the star bowler with four wickets. Ponting asserted this was the best win as a coach after coaching several teams in the past. 

"We just said that wins like this are always the sweetest ones. If we can pull this off, then this would be as good a win as most guys have probably been involved in. I've coached a lot of games in the IPL and that might just be about the best win that I've ever had. We just said that wins like this are always the sweetest ones. If we can pull this off, then this would be as good as a win most guys have probably been involved in," Ponting concluded.

PBKS are currently at the fourth rank on the points table with four wins and two losses.

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