"I hope you lose"- PBKS star reveals hilarious comment from Ricky Ponting ahead of SA vs AUS 2025 WTC final

South Africa fast bowler Marco Jansen has said that his IPL coach, Ricky Ponting, wished him luck for the 2025 WTC final, but added that he hoped the Proteas lost the final to Australia. The two teams will play the final at Lord's, starting on June 11.

Jansen, who played for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2025, left the franchise after the league phase of the season to link up with the South African squad to prepare for the summit clash.

"Before I left (India), he (Ponting) just said 'good luck, I hope you do well, but I hope you lose’," Jansen told ICC Digital.

On a serious note, the left-arm seamer said that he had learnt a lot about the mental side of the game from Ponting in the IPL. Jansen also admitted that the 50-year-old tended to focus on the positives over the negatives, if it made sense.

"I learnt a lot from him, especially from a mental point of view. He is always positive and he always sees the good stuff instead of the bad stuff, if it makes sense," he said.

Marco Jansen hopes to learn from Stuart Broad ahead of 2025 WTC final against Australia

Ahead of the final, South Africa have roped in former England fast bowler Stuart Broad in a consulting role for the match. Marco Jansen hoped to pick up a few things from the 38-year-old on how to dismiss Australian batters in the final.

“Obviously ,he's played a lot against Australia at Lord’s. Maybe I will pick his brain on what they did back then or what they did when he was playing to get certain batters out. And then, because I mean, you can ask all those questions and you can try and do it, but it doesn't mean it's going to work necessarily," Jansen said.

This is the second consecutive time that Australia will be playing in a WTC final. This will also be the second time in two years that South Africa will be playing in the final of an ICC event, having featured in the T20 World Cup summit clash in 2024.

​