Chandigarh, March 18 Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer is happy to be reunited with head coach Ricky Ponting and said his presence around the squad gives a lot of confidence to players.
“He supports everyone. When I worked with him for the first time in the past, he made me feel like I am a great player and I can easily excel in this format. The confidence he gives a player is of a different level,” Iyer said in a press conference.
He further deliberated on the team’s objective for the season and said, “The goal is to win the trophy, that's our mindset right now and it's a step-by-step process, it's not like you wake up in the morning and do it but the way we're practicing right now and the way we're sharing our wavelength and camaraderie with each other, it's going really well.”
Ponting was all praise for Iyer as he expressed his elation to have the latter as the captain of the side and said he is looking forward to working with him again.
“He's a great human being. He is an IPL-winning captain. We could not have asked for more. He has only joined the camp a couple of days ago so he is starting to make his mark on the team as a captain and as a leader and that will evolve over the next few days before we get into our first game. But as I said, I could not have been happier,” said Ponting.
Further explaining how the new squad of the team contains appropriate balance, the two-time World Cup-winning skipper said, “We have had a really good mix of youth and experience. We have really high-quality of Indian players and some really high-quality overseas players as well."
“I am elated with how the squad has come together. We had our first session here last night which went really good. The boys have trained really well,” he added expressing his satisfaction with the combination.
Meanwhile, Commenting on the team’s structure and their preparations for the new season, CEO Satish Menon further stated, “The team is fearless. The youngsters in our squad are fearless. We have a great coach in Ponting and a great IPL-winning captain in Iyer. I don't think you can get bigger than that. We have also focused on building our brand of Punjab and hene we have a lot of players from the state in our squad.”
Punjab Kings will face Gujarat Titans in their first contest at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 25. The team will then return to their home ground, the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh for two home games against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings.
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