The Punjab Kings have been hit hard in IPL 2025 with two major overseas stars - Glenn Maxwell and Lockie Ferguson - ruled out for the season due to injuries. The absence of these key overseas players is indeed a setback, but the delay in naming their replacements has raised questions.
Head coach Ricky Ponting has now opened up on the issue. He attributed the hold-up to a surprising reason - the Pakistan Super League.
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Maxwell fractured his finger during training ahead of PBKS’ rained-out match against KKR on April 26. It was later confirmed by his teammate Marcus Stoinis that the injury was worse than expected.
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"He didn't think it was too bad, but it ended up getting pretty bad... So unfortunately for Maxi, I think it's likely he's out for the tournament,” said Stoinis.
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PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed during the toss against CSK that the team hadn’t decided on replacements for Maxwell or Ferguson.
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“It’s very unfortunate that he’s got a fractured finger. To be honest, we haven't decided about the replacements yet... we’ve got a variety of players who can win matches,” Iyer said.
What did Ricky Ponting say about PBKS' replacement delay?
Speaking on finding replacements for Maxwell and Ferguson, Ponting blamed the PSL as the key reason behind the delay. According to him, the pool of high-quality overseas players has shrunk because many are currently involved in the Pakistani league.
“With the PSL happening at the same time, there's not a lot of high-quality replacements out there, to be honest,” Ponting said.
He also hinted that PBKS is looking at domestic talent instead.
“We’re looking at what roles we might be able to fill with some younger Indian players... a couple of guys trained with us yesterday and they will come with us to Dharamsala,” he added.
PBKS has until their 12th game on May 8 against Delhi Capitals to finalise the replacements, as per IPL rules.