Head coach Ricky Ponting has 'no excuses' as Punjab Kings lose to RCB in IPL 2025 Final

The day of June 3, 2025 was finally a day of celebration for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as they finally lifted the elusive trophy after 17 years. Though it was an eventful moment for the Bengaluru franchise, it was heartbreak for the Punjab Kings (PBKS), who couldn’t finish their incredible season on a high and fell short by six runs in the crucial chase, which cost them the trophy at the end.

PBKS head coach and former Aussie legend Ricky Ponting also opened up on the loss, where they failed to chase down the total of 190. Ponting claimed that the team lacked a bit of experience in the middle-order, which might have affected them in the game. However, he still backed the same middle order to win them a lot of games in the future.

While there were also people claiming that the wicket in Ahmedabad got slower in the second innings, Ponting refused to give those excuses, mentioning that one of their best performers in the final match, Shashank Singh, believed otherwise.

“You can look at it [the team] tonight and say, was it probably a little bit of inexperience that cost us. Maybe, a little bit of experience in that middle order today might have helped us out, but what I know is that they're going to win us a lot of games going forward,” Ponting said as quoted by The Hindu.

“No, I don't think so (on the pitch). There are no excuses from us, no excuses from me, in fact, Shashank at the end of the game said [he thought] that's the best wicket he has batted on for the whole season," the former Australian cricketer added.

We just lost a bit of momentum at a critical time: Ponting

Ponting, who joined forces as PBKS head coach this year, further supported his statement while recalling what went wrong in the match and what caused the shift in momentum in the game. The legendary cricketer said that it was probably the last couple of overs of the powerplay that caused a bit of worry and led to a lot of wickets falling in the middle.

“We just lost a bit of momentum at a critical time, probably the last couple of overs of the powerplay, you could feel that momentum just started to go away a little bit, and then [again] probably [in] the four or five overs outside the powerplay, we just lost momentum [and] we lost critical wickets,” the three-time World Cup-winner said.

“They [RCB] probably felt they were a little bit short with the bat in the first innings, and we were pretty happy to be able to chase 190. But as I said, I'll make no excuses, we just weren't good enough," he concluded.