Ponting approves the late arrival of Jansen after delayed departure post T20WC

Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has approved the late arrival of Marco Jansen for the IPL, considering that the South African all-rounder was among the last batch of players who departed late from India following the T20 World Cup due to logistical issues.

After finishing their World Cup campaigns, players from South Africa and the West Indies were stranded in India for over a week. Some players, such as Proteas batter David Miller and West Indies head coach Daren Sammy, also expressed their annoyance at the delay in their departure from India because key airports like Dubai and Abu Dhabi were unable to operate owing to the crisis in West Asia.

Marco Jansen is an important player in the PBKS unit who ended up as the runner-up in the IPL last season. The left-arm pacer took 16 wickets last season at an economy rate of 9.20.

Jansen will join the rest of the PBKS squad on March 26, while coach Ricky Ponting and other international players will link up with the team on March 21.

Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai will join the team on March 23 from Kabul. His country is currently involved in a conflict with Pakistan. Meanwhile, Captain Iyer is expected to join the squad on March 19.

In their first year with PBKS, the Ponting and Shreyas Iyer combination took the franchise to the final last season, its first since 2014.

The airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are still well below capacity, which presents another difficulty for the clubs when it comes to scheduling players` travel from the West.

On March 31, the Punjab Kings will host the Gujarat Titans to begin their 2026 campaign. before they travel to Chennai to face CSK on April 3.

Punjab Kings squad for IPL 2026:

Shreyas Iyer (C), Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Pravin Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Mitchell Owen, Harnoor Pannu, Pyla Avinash, Vishal Nishad

(With PTI Input)