Ricky Ponting names 4 uncapped PBKS stars ready for India debut

Punjab Kings (PBKS) have had an amazing IPL 2025 season, reaching the playoffs after 11 long years. They brought in Ricky Ponting as head coach and Shreyas Iyer as captain, and these changes made a big difference as the team finished at the top of the IPL 2025 points table.

In the league phase, Punjab Kings have won 9 of their 14 matches and qualified for Qualifier 1, where they will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Chandigarh on Thursday, May 29. Before the Qualifier 1 clash with RCB, Ponting named four uncapped PBKS players who can play for India.

Ricky Ponting picks future India stars from PBKS camp

Punjab Kings' head coach was full of praise for his young star, who has been stellar in the team’s dream run so far this season. Ponting named Priyansh Arya as a standout performer, calling him a revelation at the top of the order. He revealed that Arya was his top pick going into the auction.

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Ricky Ponting was quoted as saying by PTI, “There are four of them who can. You look at Priyansh Arya. He has been a revelation for us at the top of the order. I must have watched—I don’t know how many hours of video I watched on him going into the auction, but he was the one that I wanted to make sure that we got.”

The Australian legend also backed Prabhsimran Singh, who has now scored the most runs by an uncapped player in IPL history, to play for India one day.

Ricky Ponting praises Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh

The PBKS head coach further added, “Prabhsimran is probably the obvious one when you talk about playing for India. Still only 24 years of age. I read somewhere the other day that he’s now got the most runs for an uncapped player in IPL history."

Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh also impressed Ponting with their impactful performances in the middle order for PBKS. Ponting also praised Harpreet Brar and Vijaykumar Vyshak, saying they also could be on the Indian selectors’ radar after an impressive IPL 2025 season.

Ponting signed off by saying, “Wadhera is someone that I think could play for India as well in the middle order. And Shashank, you’ve only got to look at the cold, hard numbers with him. His strike rate and boundary percentage at the end of innings are as good as anyone going around. All four of those guys could play.”

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Ricky Ponting’s young guns' IPL 2025 heroics

Notably, Priyansh Arya has been a breakout star for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. He has already smashed 424 runs at a blazing strike rate of 183.54, including a century and two fifties so far in the IPL 2025. PBKS showed their trust in Prabhsimran Singh by retaining him ahead of the mega-auction, and he delivered big.

The opener has piled up 499 runs with an impressive strike rate of 165.78. In the middle order, Shashank Singh and Nehal Wadhera have played the role of finishers brilliantly. Shashank has scored 284 runs from 11 innings at a strike rate of 149.47, while Nehal has already amassed 298 runs with a strike rate of 152.04.