Nehal Wadhera didn't think he would make his Punjab Kings (PBKS) and IPL 2025 debut on April 1 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Vijaykumar Vyshak was the Impact Sub for Priyansh Arya in their season-opener against Gujarat Titans (GT). But, in their second game, Wadhera came on after Yuzvendra Chahal finished his four overs. And when LSG substituted David Miller for left-arm spinner M Siddharth in Lucknow, head coach Ricky Ponting asked him to be ready to bat, ahead of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.
PBKS had already wiped out 110 of their 172-run target in just 10.1 overs. Wadhera went out at No. 4 and finished with a polished, unbeaten 25-ball 43 in Shreyas Iyer's company. The pair added 67 in just 37 balls to take their team to victory with 22 balls to spare. And Wadhera hadn't even bothered to take his whole kit to work, he was so sure he wouldn't get a look-in.
"We talk about players making an impact, right? You get an opportunity in a T20 game and it's all about making an impact on the game and on the contest when you can," Ponting said in his post-match briefing, which PBKS put up on their YouTube channel. "And Nehal, I know, came today, he only packed one shirt in his bag, because he didn't think he was going to be taking much part in the game.
"He fields the last four overs [of the LSG innings] and then I tap him on the shoulder when I saw that they'd made their Impact Sub as a left-arm offspinner, I said, 'mate, you're going in'. And I said, 'make the most of the opportunity, play your way'."
Wadhera, subbed in for Yuzvendra Chahal, hit three fours and four sixes in his innings, building on the promising IPL initiation he had with Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2023, where he had played a similar role as a middle-order floater, before not featuring in MI's plans too much in IPL 2024.
Varun Aaron and Nick Knight discuss how Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting are making things for Punjab Kings
"It's a great feeling," Wadhera said in the PBKS video. "My only thought when I went into bat was that Iyer bhai is set, I shouldn't allow pressure to creep in on him. And I need is to prove Ricky Ponting right for the faith and backing he gave me."
After his unbeaten effort, Wadhera was full of praise for Iyer's captaincy, while also speaking with admiration of Ponting, who he said he had "never heard any negative talk" from.
"All credit goes to the way he [Iyer] is captaining us," Wadhera told the official broadcaster after the LSG game. "And also the way he is boosting our confidence and the way he was telling me things like, 'play your natural game, just go with the flow,' and I just love playing like that."