Glenn Maxwell's disappointing campaign for the Mohali-based Kings was ended by a broken finger last week, but Ponting has been quick to enlist some big-hitting, allround cover by snapping up Tasmanian Mitch Owen as a replacement.
The Hobart thumper will be the sixth Australian player on Punjab's books this season, following Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis, with Ponting feeling Owen could be a huge asset once he's finished his current stint in the Pakistan Super League with Peshawar Zalmi.
He has not exactly been firing on all cylinders in Pakistan, but Owen could still have a big say in the IPL if, as seems ever more likely following the Kings' 37-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday, the second-placed Punjab reach the playoffs.
And Ponting's Aussie army is still thriving without Maxwell, it appears, as a couple of his foot soldiers helped him get one over his old mate Justin Langer's Super Kings.
Inglis, moved up to first-drop, ignited their innings at Dharamsala with a thunderous 30 off 14 balls, featuring four sixes, including three in successive balls off Mayank Yadav.
Then after Ponting's Indian favourite Prabhsimran Singh had run the show with a glorious 91 off 48 balls, featuring seven sixes, Marcus Stoinis kept the momentum going at the death with 15 not out off just five balls to help drag Punjab to a massive 5-236.
A Mitch Marsh special was needed in Lucknow's chase, but Australia's T20 skipper, dismissed for a duck by Arshdeep Singh when the teams met last month, met exactly the same fate after facing just five balls.
Just as in that match, Punjab proved dominant, with Ayush Badoni's 74 off 40 and Abdul Samad's 45 off 24 not enough for Lucknow, who are now seventh and running out of time in a race for their required top-four place.
In the day's earlier match at Eden Gardens, all of India was again transfixed to see how Rajasthan's 14-year-old wonderboy Vaibhav Suryavanshi would get on against Kolkata at the end of a week in which his record-breaking century followed by a duck had been the talk of a nation.
Alas, it was bad news for the kid again, his amazing week seemingly encapsulated in two deliveries. The first, off Vaibhav Arora, he stroked beautifully for four with a classical cover drive. The second, he spiralled ferociously, only for Ajinkya Rahane to take a great catch that spoiled everyone's fun.
The Royals' young skipper Riyan Parag made a real fight of it as they chased the Knight Riders' 4-206, which had featured a typically mighty 57 not out off 25 balls from Andre Russell.
But despite Parag's 95 off 45 balls, which included five sixes in one over off Moeen Ali, the already eliminated Rajasthan ended up falling agonisingly one run short on 8-205 as the champions Kolkata moved to sixth in the table.
