With Ponting's trusty captain Shreyas Iyer hitting a superb unbeaten 101, his maiden IPL ton, on Saturday, the Kings eased to 3-200 to defeat the Justin Langer-guided Lucknow Super Giants, who'd made a Josh Inglis-powered 6-196, by seven wickets with a couple of overs to spare.
It's propelled Punjab into the fourth and last playoff spot but for how long? The chances still are that they'll be bumped out by the results on the final Sunday of the regular season.
First, Rajasthan Royals will play at Mumbai Indians, and if 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continues the sort of precocious form he's shown all tournament, the Royals can expect the win that will guarantee they'll snatch fourth spot from Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders, the only other two contenders.
Kolkata will then later play Delhi Capitals, and if Rajasthan have been beaten, Cameron Green's Knight Riders could still sneak into the fourth spot with victory.
On the penultimate day, Punjab who had started the season sensationally by winning their first six completed matches finally rediscovered some of that magic, against a Lucknow side, who are bottom of the table but must have wished they'd had the services of Inglis throughout the whole campaign.
Once again, the Aussie opener was brilliant, bashing his third half-century in the five matches he's been available to play. He raced to 50 off 28 balls, and went on to hit nine boundaries and two sixes in his 72 off 44 deliveries.
Inglis didn't have his usual opening partner Mitch Marsh for company, with the Australian T20 skipper having left to prepare for the forthcoming ODI series in Pakistan.
But Inglis could have done with his old mate's support as Punjab fast bowler Marco Jansen (2-33) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2-25) restricted the hosts.
In Punjab's reply, Mohammed Shami got rid of opener Priyansh Arya for a golden duck, and also bowled Cooper Connolly -- one of five Aussie players in Ponting's squad -- for 18.
But Iyer and opener Prabhsimran Singh (69) added 140 off 76 balls, with Singh hitting his sixth half-century of the season off 28 balls before Iyer's spectacular finish as he reached his ton with his fifth six.
"There's a reason I spent as much money as I did at the auction a couple of years ago," beamed Ponting afterwards as he poured praise on his skipper.
