IPL 2025: Ricky Ponting vs Andy Flower - Analysing the Battle of The Head Coaches Ahead of The Final

A lot has been made about the fact that the IPL 2025 final will be contested by two teams who have never won the Indian Premier League title even once in their history, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on the Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. What many seem to miss is that this is also a battle of two head coaches in RCB's Andy Flower and PBKS' Ricky Ponting who have yet to win an IPL title. (RCB vs PBKS Live Updates)

In modern-day T20 cricket, the role of the head coach is one of paramount importance. But what makes the journey of RCB and PBKS so interesting is that they went ahead and picked coaches whose previous track records had no guarantees of success. 

Instead, both teams accepted that they needed to remould their long-term structure and build something new if they were to have any chance at making the final. 

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Ponting's ‘Full Autonomy’ Works Wonders

For Ponting, who has led Delhi Capitals to the final alongside Shreyas Iyer in 2020, the main thing he wanted was ‘full autonomy’ to take the decisions he felt was needed to make the team better. 

"I made it pretty clear that when I accepted the head coach's job (with Punjab Kings) that I wanted to have pretty much full autonomy over the way that we go about the coaching staff and the way that we go about putting the strategy together with the auction, our scouts did a terrific job," said Ponting.

It is easy to understand why he asked for this - PBKS are a side that, over recent years, have become renowned for dysfunctional team decisions being taken. 

Their lack of long-term squad building hindered the side and led to a streak where they failed to make it to the playoffs for 10 straight seasons. 

But under Ponting's stewardship, they have planned well and it has reflected well on the side, who are playing their first final in 11 years as a result. 

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Flower Takes The Road Less Travelled

Flower's route to becoming RCB's head coach was an unconventional one - he spent years coaching internationally before being an assistant coach at PBKS and then coached Lucknow Super Giants in 2022 and 2023 before taking the job at RCB. 

Perhaps the biggest impact Flower has made has been to make the team less dependent on Virat Kohli while also ensuring the former skipper continues to perform well. 

It is a tricky balancing act to pull off but one the Zimbabwean has done well. To make things better, the players around Kohli have also stepped up and eased the loead on him. 

Flower has also taken unconventional punts that have worked off - going in with Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma as the main spin options worked well despite looking like a gamble. 

The RCB side, which once looked like a cavalcade of superstars, is now a well-oiled unit. And that may well be the difference for them this time around.