"You need to come and sit next to me in the dugout" - Ricky Ponting's hilarious reply to Preity Zinta on his aggression during IPL 2025 [Watch]

Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting recently gave a witty answer to co-owner Preity Zinta's question about his aggression on the cricket field. The Tasmanian always played with his heart on his sleeve and grew to be one of Australia's most influential cricketers. He captained Australia to two World Cup and Champions Trophy victories. In Tests, he accumulated 48 victories as skipper in 77 matches, leading one of the most dominant sides in history.

Answering Preity Zinta's question, Ponting stated that he will laugh and joke with people off the field but switches on the intensity when it comes to his job as a coach. The 50-year-old said in a video posted by the Punjab Kings on X:

"You need to come and sit next to me in the dugout sometimes because you will see that it's not always calm. Look, I'm an aggressive-natured person, especially when it's cricket time. I'll have a laugh and a joke and a coffee and a sit down with anyone and talk about anything outside of cricket time. But when it's cricket time, it's my job to bring high performance to this team. And so I'm not gonna waste a minute, I'm not gonna waste a day, I'm not gonna waste a training session where I'm not trying to be the best coach that I can be and make every single player that's playing with me the best player that they can be."

Ponting's record as a coach in the IPL is impressive, propelling the Mumbai Indians to the title in 2015. Under his watch, the Delhi Capitals played their first final in 2020 and Punjab went on to feature in the decider in 2025.

"We're going to have these younger guys around this team for a long time" - Ricky Ponting

Punjab Kings. (Image Credits: Getty)

Speaking after the defeat in the IPL 2025 final to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Ponting felt inexperience might have cost them but is confident of the same players doing well for the franchise for a long time. The Aussie said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:

"You can probably look at it 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 we're going to have these younger guys around this team for a long time and I think they're going to win us a lot of games going forward."

This was the Punjab Kings' second loss in an IPL final. They first made the final in 2014, losing to the Kolkata Knight Riders.