Legendary Australia cricketer Ricky Ponting criticized the BCCI for their scheduling of the IPL 2025 mega auction as him alongside Justin Langer will have to leave first Border-Gavaskar series Test midway.
Both of them were part of the Channel Seven commentary team but due to their positions with IPL sides, they will have to travel to Jeddah for the auction that is set to take place on November 24 and 25.
Ponting was recently appointed as the head coach of the Punjab Kings while Langer will be coaching the Lucknow Super Giants in the upcoming season.
“It’s the worst possible case scenario for me and ‘JL’. We for the last couple of months felt that it was probably going to be in the gap between the Test matches. It takes all the pressure off the players from both teams, there’s a lot of players in both teams in the auction,” Ponting said.
“So I always thought it would’ve been in that gap because it just seemed better for everybody. But I don’t know why they’ve chosen the dates they have – it might have something to do with the game. The auction actually starts on air almost immediately after the end of play. So it might be something to do with broadcast,” Ponting added.
The former Australia skipper revealed that he will be commentating the first day of the Perth Test but will be leaving for Riyadh right after.
“I’m calling the first day then flying out late Friday night to Jeddah. The auction is the 24th and 25th and then depending on how we’re going through our auction, we’ll see when I can return. Hopefully I’ll get back for the end of Perth, and if not I’ll be back on deck for the start of Adelaide,” Ponting said.
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