{"id":170887,"date":"2026-05-22T11:36:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=170887"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:36:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:06:34","slug":"ipl-2026-ponting-rues-missed-opportunities-ahead-of-punjab-kings-must-win-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=170887","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026: Ponting rues missed opportunities ahead of Punjab Kings\u2019 must-win encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Nine 200-plus totals conceded and six consecutive losses have left Punjab Kings (PBKS) facing a complex qualification scenario in the ongoing Indian Premier League season.<\/p>\n

Gearing up for a do-or-die fixture against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday, PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting rued the lack of ability to deliver in crunch moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we\u2019ve lost six games in a row. But there have been very few games in which we\u2019ve been outplayed. We got to winning positions in most of the games but haven\u2019t been able to close them out,\u201d he said on the eve of the game.<\/p>\n

A lot of factors have played a role in the team\u2019s decline, and the most glaring one was not on the field but off it. Shreyas Iyer\u2019s side came under immense scrutiny on social media after several of its key players found themselves involved in various controversies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anything externally has interrupted us as a team. I\u2019m not a big social media guy and might be a bit oblivious to what\u2019s happening there,\u201d Ponting said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that I can control is the behaviour of the team and how they prepare ahead of each game. I think we were exceptional right from the start of the season but have been a little bit off lately. But we\u2019ve got only ourselves to blame for the situation we are in now, and we will focus on whatever we can do to win tomorrow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

RELATED | Punjab Kings desperate to end losing streak and sneak into Playoffs against Super Giants<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Skipper Shreyas, too, has been a point of discussion for his batting. The 31-year-old has managed to score just one 30-plus score in the last five games despite amassing over 390 runs overall this season.<\/p>\n

Ponting, however, sees the positive side of things. \u201cShreyas has had a very good tournament with the bat. His leadership around the group has been exceptional. He\u2019s a very mature leader who now understands how to get the best out of his players. Every time he speaks, every one of our players looks up and listens,\u201d said Ponting.<\/p>\n

With knockout qualification on the line, PBKS will hope Shreyas delivers with both his bat and decisions on the field.<\/p>\n

Party spoilers<\/h4>\n

On the other hand, an already eliminated LSG comes into the game with nothing to lose. It already played a part in Chennai Super Kings\u2019 exit and will look to do the same against the visitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t found the ideal winning formula this season so far. So, hopefully moving into tomorrow, we can do that, and we can put on one final good show for our fans at home,\u201d said LSG assistant coach, Lance Klusener.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on a campaign that fell short of expectations, Klusener defended the team\u2019s work ethic while acknowledging the unpredictable nature of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has given 100%. We certainly would have liked better results. But sometimes that\u2019s the game. It\u2019s not like you can go and study for something and then become a doctor or a lawyer in cricket, he said.<\/p>\n

You can study and practice as hard as you want. It still doesn\u2019t guarantee success. So that\u2019s been the downside, I guess. And I think it would be really unfair to try and point fingers at everyone. I think everybody is as responsible as everybody else,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Published on May 22, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Nine 200-plus totals conceded and six consecutive losses have left Punjab Kings (PBKS) facing a complex qualification scenario in the ongoing Indian Premier League season. Gearing up for a do-or-die fixture against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday, PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting rued the lack of ability to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IPL20202620LSG20VS20PBKS2021.JPG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgnRh4-Isf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/170888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}