Punjab Kings have decided to retain the majority of their support staff after Ricky Ponting was appointed as PBKS Head Coach.

Ponting is set to continue forming his team of support staff at Punjab Kings Notably, bringing on board James Hopes, the former Australian all-rounder who worked with him during his tenure at Delhi Capitals.

Hopes was also part of the franchise in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League in 2008 as a player.

The spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi, batting coach Brad Haddin and fielding coach Trevor Gonsalves are set to continue their role at the franchise. Hopes has represented his national team in 84 ODIs and 12 T20Is and chose to continue along with his former captain Ponting.

Hopes for joining the franchise indicate the exit of Charl Langeveldt, the fast bowling coach of the franchise in the IPL 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Haddin who was brought in by Trevor Bayliss, Haddin had previously worked with Ponting at SRH and will continue in his role as the franchise’s batting and WK-coach.

On the other hand, Joshi has been with the Punjab Franchise for the last couple of seasons as a spin bowling coach. The franchise has parted with Sanjay Bangar, who had signed on as a head of cricket development last year.

He had a three-year contract but the agreement was terminated in the middle. The franchise has retained other members of the support staff, including Adrian le Roux and Andrew Leipus.

Ponting’s first assignment is to finalize the list of retained players and will try to enter the auction with the highest available Purse. Meanwhile, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma had a breakout season last year and could be retained in the PBKS squad as uncapped players for INR 4 crore each.