Punjab Kings were unbeaten in their first seven games, and now Ricky Ponting has lost three coaches
James Hopes and Brad Haddin have left for head-coach jobs in Australia, and spin coach Sairaj Bahutule is already with India, so Ponting has to rebuild his staff before IPL 2027.
Oct 8, 2026
Ricky Ponting has three coaching jobs to fill at Punjab Kings before the next IPL. James Hopes and Brad Haddin have both left the franchise, reports on Thursday said, and spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule had already gone to the Indian men’s team.
That is three of the people Ponting leaned on most over two seasons. Hopes ran the fast bowlers. Haddin was the fielding coach and is listed as an assistant coach. Bahutule looked after the spinners in IPL 2026.
Why they left
Neither exit is a surprise to anyone watching the Australian domestic game. Hopes was named head coach of Queensland and the Brisbane Heat in June on a three-year deal, a return home for a man who played 84 ODIs for Australia and captained both sides. He had been appointed Sydney Sixers coach less than two months earlier and walked away from that contract before taking charge of a single game.
Haddin’s move came earlier still. Cricket NSW confirmed him as head coach of the Blues in March, replacing Greg Shipperd, with the job starting in June. Both men now run Sheffield Shield sides.
Bahutule went to the BCCI. The former leg-spinner played two Tests and eight ODIs, took 630 first-class wickets, and had worked with Rajasthan Royals before Punjab.
A season that fell apart
The timing stings for Punjab. They reached the IPL 2025 final under Ponting and Shreyas Iyer and lost it to Royal Challengers Bengaluru. In 2026 they started even better: six wins and a no-result from their first seven games, and close to a month on top of the table.
Then they lost six in a row. A win over Lucknow Super Giants in their last game left them on 15 points, fifth, one behind Rajasthan Royals in the last playoff place.
Fielding was a recurring problem in that slide. Ponting himself made light of it at one point, saying of Shashank Singh that “it just looks like the ball is following him around everywhere he goes.” Whoever replaces Haddin will have that at the top of the list.
Who Ponting might turn to
Ponting tends to bring people he trusts. Hopes followed him from Delhi Capitals when Ponting took the Punjab job on a four-year contract ahead of IPL 2025, turning down a new deal at Delhi to do it. Haddin was kept on from Trevor Bayliss’s staff. I’d expect Ponting to go back to people he has worked with before. Nothing has been announced yet.
Punjab will want the new names in place well before the 2027 season. With Iyer still captain, the dressing room may look familiar. The coaches in it will not.