Ponting: Shreyas 'understands game situations better than ever before'

Punjab Kings (PBKS) coach Ricky Ponting is impressed with Shreyas Iyer's evolution as a captain, saying that he is responding to pressure better after having led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title last season.

Ponting has seen that evolution from close quarters, having also worked with Iyer during his stint at Delhi Capitals (DC). Iyer and Ponting had led DC to the playoffs from 2019 to 2021, and even the final in 2020. Their reunion as captain and coach at PBKS has turned out to be sweet so far, with the team well-placed for a playoffs spot at the moment.

"He's a lot more confident in himself now than he was, and that comes with experience," Ponting said in his post-match press conference after PBKS defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk. "I mean, he won the IPL last year as a captain, so when you've done that and you've got that experience behind you and you believe and trust in your own instincts, I think that's the biggest thing with captaincy, especially in a T20 game when everything around you is happening so fast.

"You know, fours and sixes are flying everywhere. His ability to stay calm on the field, although he might not have been that calm tonight when we were a couple of overs late getting through the overs, but just his maturity, I think, and that experience."

That maturity shone through when he matched his premier spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, up with MS Dhoni - who continues to struggle against this variety of bowling - despite the presence of spin-hitter Shivam Dube at the other end. After having Dhoni hole out for 11 off four balls, Chahal went onto bag a hat-trick in that 19th over of CSK's innings to spin the game PBKS' way.

Iyer then helmed PBKS' chase with 72 off 41 balls, hitting five fours and four sixes. He was on 28 off 23 balls at one point but turned up the tempo to bring up his fifty off just 32 balls.

"He's a more mature player now, I think he understands the game and game situations probably better than ever before, and I think that was showcased there tonight, to be able to play the way that he did," Ponting said of Iyer. "You know, he'll be disappointed with himself that he didn't hit the winning runs, he didn't get his team across the line, because I know how much he prides himself on being the man that's there at the end to win games. But look, I love working with him, he talks with all the players, all the players love working with him.

"The way he communicates with them, whether it's during the game or at practice or back at the team hotel… we've managed to create a really good environment that everybody seems to be really happy in and the boys are playing some good cricket in. So, all in all, it was another good performance from us tonight."

Not too long ago, Iyer was vulnerable to fast bowlers targeting him with short balls. In this IPL, he's found a way to put those bowlers away, thanks to a technical tweak. In all, Iyer has scored 86 runs off 44 short or short-of-a-good-length deliveries while being dismissed three times this season.

"I've had nothing to do with that," Ponting said. "You guys will see how his stance has evolved. He's opened his stance up a little bit. He's getting his right eye around more to the release point of the ball. And with his shoulders being open, he's being able to create some more access to the ball when the ball is back in towards his body. So that's stuff that he's all worked out himself.

"We're still working on it pretty much every day. There're little things that he needs to do because it is such a drastic move that he's done. He's got to make sure that everything is in the right position and all his movements are syncing up really well.

"But, I mean, some of the innings he's played this tournament so far have been as good as anyone else's. I mean, there's been a lot of hundreds made, but Shreyas' first game when he made 97, that's as good an innings as I've seen in the tournament."

Former India coach Ravi Shastri also recently spoke of the technical adjustment Iyer had made to handle the short ball better.

"He was very side on, was back and back, very much leg side. The fact that he's prepared to go back and across now and with a very upright stance and the pick up," Shastri noted on The ICC Review. "While he's moving back, the bat's being picked up as well when he's going back and across.

"That allows him to play both sides of the wicket. If they [fast bowlers] bang it in short, he can pull and hook. And if there's any room outside the off stump, he can cut as well. So that opens up the game for him rather than being too leg side where the rib cage was being targeted and then there was no escape."

PBKS next head to Dharamsala, their second home, where they will play three of their remaining four league-stage fixtures. The team has lost the last four games they have played at the venue across two seasons, but Ponting backed them to remedy that home record in this IPL.

"I mean, it's still our home ground, right? It's our home ground," Ponting said. "We should know the conditions better than anybody else. We should be able to play the conditions better than anybody else.

"We've got a very long travel day tomorrow, and then we've got two training days before our next game. So, we'll have a chance to look at the conditions and work them out. I think the one thing in our favour is we had a four- or five-day camp up in Dharamshala before this season started. Everyone went there except for a couple of the overseas guys. So our Indian guys will have a good understanding of what the conditions will be like up there.

"I know it's a slightly different time of year now, but I think we've got a pretty good idea of what the conditions will be like."