Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting praised his squad's hard work and team culture after they secured a top-two finish in IPL 2025 with a commanding seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. While Ponting expressed satisfaction with how the group has gelled, he emphasized that the real challenge begins now with the playoffs. "Very pleased, lot of hard work goes into achieving this. Starts from the auction, big thing for me was to come to a new franchise and make a difference straightaway. It's obvious to see that it's a quality team, heading in the same direction. We haven't done anything yet, that's what I've been telling players, the big games are to come," Ponting said after the match. The win was anchored by a fiery 62 from youngster Priyansh Arya and a dominant 73 by Josh Inglis as PBKS chased down Mumbai’s 184 with 7 balls to spare. Ponting was all praise for the youngsters and their fearless approach. "Prabhsimran is 23-24 and has got 500 runs, I said maybe four or five games in that Priyansh is one of the finds of the tournament. Hard to argue with now. Fearless young talent seeing and hitting the ball. Overseas players - Inglis, Stoinis have been great. Shreyas has been outstanding." Also READ: Rohit Sharma Fans Chant Loudly at Jaipur IPL Match Ponting explains auction investment, team culture, and injury updates Ponting admitted he had been keen to reunite with Shreyas Iyer at Punjab, having worked closely with him in Delhi. The head coach also stressed the importance of team harmony and maintaining strong leadership in high-pressure environments. "We're a happy group, enjoyed each other's company ten weeks, got one more to go. Pretty obvious I was keen to work with Shreyas considering how much I spent at the auction. We had a good working relationship in Delhi. I've known him from a long time. He's a quality person. It's what you need when you need to form a culture." He confirmed that Yuzvendra Chahal, who missed the game against Delhi Capitals due to a wrist niggle, could return for the playoffs. Ponting also revealed that Marco Jansen’s departure was pre-planned and lauded the team’s bench strength. "Arshdeep's great, Chahal should be back. If you speak to players individually, they'll give Shreyas a good rap. We'll celebrate tonight, we've done that after every game apart from the last one due to the short turnaround. Got a late afternoon flight tomorrow, we'll work out where our training slots fit. We'll rest players up." "Jansen is a high-quality individual, tough to replace him. Got Jamieson in tonight to ensure he got a game before Marco left. Every team's missing players, we'd like to think we've got good depth and be able to cover for Marco despite it being a big miss."