Former Australia cricketers Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and are likely to miss their commentary duties for the first Test of the upcoming five-match Test series between India and Australia due to IPL 2025 auction. Notably, the IPL (Indian Premier League) 2025 auction is all set to be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia while the first Test between India and Australia is set to begin from November 22.
With the two dates clashing, Ponting, who’s the head coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Langer, who’s the head coach of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), are likely to be with their respective IPL teams to formulate their strategies in the mega auction. Apart from them, Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori, who’s the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad, is also likely to fly to Jeddah for the bidding event of the T20 extravaganza.
According to Australian newspaper ‘The Age’, “Channel Seven could be without Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer for parts of the Perth Test due to a clash of commitments, and Australia may lose a vital backroom coach for the start of the blockbuster Border-Gavaskar series in a potential stand-off with Indian cricket.”
Back in 2023, Ponting, who was previously coaching Delhi Capitals (DC) left after day three of the Perth Test to attend the auction. On the other hand, Langer stayed till the end of the game while Vettori completed his duties with Australia before flying for the auction which was held two days after the Perth Test finished.
The Age further reported that no decision had been made on whether Vettori would stay with the team through the entire Test or leave early for the auction. Vettori was appointed Australia’s assistant coach in May 2022 along with Andre Borovec.
Meanwhile, 1,574 players players have registered for the IPL mega auction out of which 409 are from overseas. Each team can build a squad of 25 players each and hence 204 slots are still left to be filled across ten franchises. Several big names such as Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, James Anderson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada among others will go under the hammer in the bidding event as franchises will be seen getting into a war to have them in their squads.
