Ricky Ponting to coach Australia's Dream11 IPL stars in Sydney before India series

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is currently in the UAE where he coaching the Delhi franchise in the Dream11 IPL 2020. The Ponting-coached side has successfully managed to make it to the playoffs of the tournament and will now take on Mumbai in Qualifier 1 on Thursday, November 5 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

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Ricky Ponting to coach Australia's IPL stars ahead of India vs Australia 2020 series in Sydney

According to a recent development, Ponting will help coach Australian players who have featured in the Dream11 IPL while they quarantine in Sydney ahead of the India vs Australia 2020 ODI and T20I series starting November 27. Cricket Australia (CA) has named an 18-man squad for Australia’s limited overs assignments against India. However, due to quarantine restrictions, the whole team won't come together until November 27, which is also the day when the ODI series between the two sides gets underway at the SCG.

Australian head coach Justin Langer will train the players who are already in Australia such as Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc among others. On the other hand, Ponting, Andrew McDonald and Sridharan Sriram, who are expected to be Langer’s right- hand men, are currently in the UAE with their respective IPL franchises. They will board next week’s charter flight alongside the Australian and Indian players on November 11.

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Notably, Ponting has worked as a consultant coach for Cricket Australia during last year's World Cup in England. Moreover, he has been an informal mentor while commentating during recent years. In fact, Langer has repeatedly highlighted the importance of icons like Ponting and Steve Waugh in the group saying that not only do they have a great presence in the group but they are great psychologists as they’ve been in the cauldron before.

Some players of the Australia squad for India series who are currently playing in the Dream11 IPL feature Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins among others. Out of these cricketers, there are some players whose Dream11 IPL campaign is over, however, they won't return home until the charter flight departs the UAE after the final. These cricketers will be coached under the watchful eyes of Ponting while they serve the mandatory quarantine in Sydney.

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India squad for Australia tour (ODI): Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

India squad for Australia tour (T20I): Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

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SOURCE: AP