Ponting believes Test snub is inspiring Iyer to perform

Iyer was a notable absentee when India named their 18-player squad for their upcoming five-match Test tour of England, and the in-form right-hander has responded well by scoring runs and leading the Kings into the IPL final against Royal Challengers Bangalore. If the Kings manage to win, this will be their maiden IPL title.

ICC Hall of Famer and Punjab Kings head coach Ponting discussed Iyer's absence from India's Test squad on The ICC Review last week and the Australian great said the in-form middle-order batter had moved on quickly from the disappointment to try and focus on helping the Kings create history in the IPL.

"I actually was gutted…but he’s accepted that really well and he’s moved on," Ponting said on The ICC Review of Iyer, prior to the IPL Playoffs commencing.

"He’s just got that real hunger in his eyes to do well every time that he plays for us here and wants to win games of cricket and wants to evolve and develop into the best leader and captain that he can be."

Iyer was one of India's best performers during their run to the finals in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, and was the side's leading run-scorer at the ICC Champions Trophy event at the start of this year.

He has also scored plenty of runs recently against the red ball at the first-class level in India, and Ponting thought that strong form would have seen Iyer win a recall to the Test side.

"Certain other players that have been picked in that (Test) squad have done it on the back of good first-class cricket and good IPL seasons leading up to that selection and Shreyas has done absolutely everything the same as some of those other players," Ponting noted.

"So I was disappointed that he didn’t get picked as I actually felt that he would get picked. But he didn’t. And I think that probably makes him a little bit hungrier for us when these playoff games come around."

Ponting's working relationship with Iyer is not a new partnership, with the pair having combined previously at the Delhi Capitals and having helped the side into the playoffs from 2019 to 2021, and an appearance in the final in 2020.

The duo get the chance to go one better this year against Royal Challengers Bangalore, with Iyer's match-winning innings of 87* from just 41 deliveries against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday helping the Kings earn their place in the final in what is Ponting's first year as coach of the franchise.

Iyer scored 243 runs from five innings at India’s successful Champions Trophy earlier this year and has tallied 603 runs for the Kings from 16 innings at the IPL this year to be sixth overall on the leading run-scorer charts.

"I enjoy playing a bit of a role with him as we work really well together," Ponting said.

"We talk a lot together about the game and tactics and, I think he said last night that he said ‘that I leave it to Ricky to look after the tactical stuff and pick the players, and then he hands it over to me and I go and execute it out on the field’.

"And that’s the way we’ve worked, this year and it’s been nice to get that sort of working relationship back together again."