Speaking on a Star Sports press room on the eve of Wednesday’s encounter at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the 24-year-old said what he had to improve on. “I’m gaining experience,” he said. With that, game awareness keeps increasing. When your position is cemented in the team, you start thinking about contributing for a win, be it run-making and keeping the wickets.”

Like most modern openers going around in this format, he’s actively encouraged to take risks. “That reward being a team win is what I take risks for,” he said. “If it goes the other way, then I take accountability for it,” he added.

Even if Ponting and he have exchanged lot of words over the last few months, he went back to the words the Australian great had for him post his century against the Ponting-coached Delhi in 2023. “After I scored a ton against Delhi in 2023, he had told me how I have a good future,” he remembered. “I also remember the message he had sent after retaining me before the mega auction. That way I’m happy that the franchise has repaid its faith on me,” he added.

When he was asked about Ponting’s so-called ‘golf-swing’ approach to batting, the keeper said: “In my initial days of T20 cricket, I was particular on getting a good strike rate in the powerplay. But It’s all about capitalising on the poor balls, trying to protect your wicket and contributing to wins,” he added.

The new-look franchise, according to Prabhsimran, is a ‘different beast.’ With Shreyas Iyer leading the team, he believes that the team has the ingredients for a title winning side. “It’s been seven years for me with Punjab Kings. So obviously, they have backed me a lot. And you can say that this year, we are playing very different cricket. And I feel that we are dominating most of the time,” he added.