Giving Kings wings
From changing their identity and trying out new home grounds in the past to picking an entirely fresh squad under a new coach for the 2025 season, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) are eyeing a turnaround in fortunes in the quest for their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title.
Known as Kings XI Punjab until 2021, the only team from the region tried multiple home grounds — including the MCA International Stadium at Pune and Holkar Stadium at Indore, in addition to the IS Bindra Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium at Mohali and Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium at Dharamsala — before moving to their new home venue last year: the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh PCA International Stadium in Mullanpur.
Since the launch of the IPL in 2008, the Kings have failed to lift the title of India’s marquee cricketing event. Last year, the team ended up with its worst ever finish — ninth among the 10 participating teams. That, perhaps, forced the management to opt for an aggressive approach to revamp the squad.
Months before the start of the 2025 IPL season, the PBKS decided to appoint a new head coach — former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. He joins the likes of fellow Australians Trevor Bayliss, Darren Lehmann, Adam Gilchrist (captain doubled as coach), Michael Bevan, Brad Hodge and Tom Moody, who was the first coach of Kings XI Punjab, to hold the reins.
Not just Ponting’s arrival, but a huge kitty — around Rs 110.5 crore — helped the management get who they wanted during the recent players’ auction at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. For the first time in recent years, the PBKS showed a keen interest in going all out to pick capped players — considered to be better attuned to the Kings’ new game-plan — and get hold of the uncapped players who have performed exceptionally well in the domestic circuit. Coming into the IPL auction with the highest budget to spend gave PBKS an edge over the other franchises to pick a squad of choice. That adds to the pressure in a way to ensure a more than a decent performance.
In the 2024 season, the team only won two matches in a row. They lost their regular captain, Shikhar Dhawan, to injury early in the season, but there were memorable moments that showed the potential of the team to come up tops against the best — PBKS chased down 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders, the eventual winners of the IPL, to set a world record for the highest successful T20 chase. Harshal Patel won the purple cap for his 24 wickets, but the team still finished at the bottom of the table.
At the auctions, the hunger to grab the title was quite evident as PBKS shelled out Rs 18 crore for Yuzvendra Chahal, who became the most expensive spin bowler, and the signing of Shreyas Iyer for a whopping Rs 26.75 crore — the second most expensive bid in the IPL auction after Rishabh Pant. “The Kings have always picked their players with caution... be it Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, the latest sensation Shashank Singh or Adam Gilchrist. The list goes on. However, with the introduction of the ‘impact player’ rule, the team went all out for some big names who have excelled in the past and proven their worth. For instance, Iyer steered Kolkata to the title win in 2024. Although he was not alone, he headed the pack of players in a disciplined manner,” says a former international cricketer, preferring not to be named.
Keen observers of the PBKS say though the unit will enter the new season with a positive vibe, the players need to leave the past behind — when the team, despite peak performances, failed to win the title.
Cricket pundits look back at 2014, when the side topped in the group stage with 11 wins. The likes of Glenn Maxwell — who is back in the fold — and David Miller emerged as big smashers and Sehwag contributed a vital century in the second qualifier. The Kings were clear favourites to win the final, but ended up being the runners-up.
Earlier, in 2008, in the inaugural season, the team finished third by winning 11 of their 14 league games. In the recent past, the team did exceptionally well in a few matches. A former player sums up the paradox: “They go for a good start but fail to balance the momentum.”
Having played 41 matches and grabbed 25 wickets, left-arm spinner and middle-order batter Harpreet Brar is excited for the upcoming season under the new coach and captain. “The excitement and thrill of playing in front of the home crowd is next level. This year, our team composition is excellent. We were watching the auction while playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and were discussing that this year, the picks are amazing,” says Brar. “We have a perfect blend of bowlers, all-rounders and batters who can attack and play under pressure. I have heard amazing things about Ponting from teammates who have played under him. He pushes players to excel both mentally and physically and always aims for a favourable result. We all know how many trophies he has won for Australia and we will try to win our first IPL trophy under him. We just want to give our 100 per cent for the team. As a group, we have to follow the plan for the desired results and also enjoy the sport,” he adds.
Soon after the successful bidding for Iyer, left-arm speedster Arshdeep Singh and spin wizard Yuzvendra Chahal, Ponting expressed his desire to build a strong core — expected to not only deliver their best this session, but for years to come.
“I think we knew Iyer, Pant and KL Rahul were going to attract big money. I wanted to work with him (Iyer). I’ve worked with him before and he is a great guy and a great player. He’ll be a great leader for our team if we decide to go that way, which I’m pretty sure we probably will. And, obviously, he was the championship-winning captain last year. So there are lots of great things about bringing him to Punjab,” Ponting said after the bidding.
Having got the go-ahead to build from scratch, Ponting has put his trust in Aussie talent, too, such as Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie and pacer Xavier Bartlett. With the players of choice in the line-up, Ponting will be carrying a huge responsibility to lift the morale of not only the players, but also of the Kings’ fans.
Actress Preity Zinta, the team’s co-owner and its most vocal and visible ambassador, is upbeat about the new team. The PBKS is the only team, other than Shah Rukh Khan-Juhi Chawla’s KKR, to have such a fan base owing to Preity’s presence at nearly every game of the PBKS.
Earlier this year, reports hinted that one of the co-owners wanted to sell his share, but Preity went to court against the move. The matter was later resolved. Notwithstanding some problems off the field, on the field, PBKS hope to finally get their act together.
“Auctions are always very dynamic, but if you get over 90 per cent of the players you wanted, it’s a fantastic auction,” Preity said after the Jeddah event. “It was bittersweet because we had to let go of certain players. That was our calculation: if we go with a clean slate with the least retention and the highest purse, we get the flexibility to do something completely different,” she added.
As the PBKS enters a new zone to bag the elusive crown, the fans’ expectations are only going to go up. A new approach, a new coach, a new stadium only offer new hope, says Preity Zinta, brimming with confidence. Hopefully, it would rub off on all the Kings’ men too.
Best Indian young talent
I’m extremely happy. With that kind of money, we came into the auction thinking we might be able to get 20 or 21 players. But we managed to pick a full component of 25, including eight overseas players and some of the best Indian young talent. It’s now over to us to make sure that we are ready to go.
— Ricky Ponting, head coach
2025 IPL squad
Shreyas Iyer Batsman Rs 26.75 cr
Arshdeep Singh Bowler Rs 18 cr
Yuzvendra Chahal Bowler Rs 18 cr
Marcus Stoinis All-rounder Rs 11 cr
Marco Jansen All-rounder Rs 7 cr
Shashank Singh Batsman Rs 5.5 cr
Glenn Maxwell All-Rounder Rs 4.2 cr
Nehal Wadhera Batsman Rs 4.2 cr
Prabhsimran Wicketkeeper Rs 4 cr
Priyansh Arya All-Rounder Rs 3.8 cr
Josh Inglis Wicketkeeper/Batsman Rs 2.6 cr
Azmatullah Omarzai All-Rounder Rs 2.4 cr
Lockie Ferguson Bowler Rs 2 cr
Vyshak Vijaykumar Bowler Rs 1.8 cr
Yash Thakur Bowler Rs 1.6 cr
Harpreet Brar All-Rounder Rs 1.5 cr
Aaron Hardie All-Rounder Rs 1.25 cr
Vishnu Vinod Wicketkeeper/Batsman Rs 95 lakh
Xavier Bartlett Bowler Rs 80 lakh
Kuldeep Sen Bowler Rs 80 lakh
Pravin Dubey All-Rounder Rs 30 lakh
Pyla Avinash Batsman Rs 30 lakh
Suryansh Shedge All-Rounder Rs 30 lakh
Musheer Khan All-Rounder Rs 30 lakh
Harnoor Pannu Batsman Rs 30 lakh
KINGS’ STRIKE RATE
2008: 3rd
Top Scorer: Shaun Marsh (616)
Most Wickets: S Sreesanth (19)
2009: 5th
Top scorer: Yuvraj Singh (340)
Most wickets: Irfan Pathan (17)
2010: 8th
Top scorer: Mahela Jayawardene (439)
Most wickets: Irfan Pathan (15)
2011: 5th
Top scorer: Shaun Marsh (504)
Most wickets: Piyush Chawla (16)
2012: 6th
Top scorer: Mandeep Singh (432)
Most wickets: Parvinder Awana (17)
2013: 6th
Top scorer: David Miller (418)
Most wickets: Parvinder Awana (15)
2014: 2nd
Top scorer: Glenn Maxwell (552)
Most wickets: Sandeep Sharma (18)
2015: 8th
Top scorer: David Miller (357)
Most wickets: Anureet Singh (15)
2016: 8th
Top scorer: Murali Vijay (453)
Most wickets: Sandeep Sharma (15)
2017: 5th
Top scorer: Hashim Amla (420)
Most wickets: Sandeep Sharma (17)
2018: 7th
Top scorer: KL Rahul (659)
Most wickets: Andrew Tye (24)
2019: 6th
Top scorer: KL Rahul (539)
Most wickets: Mohammed Shami (19)
2020: 6th
Top scorer: KL Rahul (670)
Most wickets: Mohammed Shami (20)
2021: 6th
Top scorer: KL Rahul (626)
Most wickets: Mohammed Shami (19)
2022: 6th
Top scorer: Shikhar Dhawan (460)
Most wickets: Kagiso Rabada (23)
2023: 8th
Top scorer: Shikhar Dhawan (373)
Most wickets: Arshdeep Singh (17)
2024: 9th
Top scorer: Shashank Singh (354)
Most wickets: Harshal Patel (24)
