Punjab Kings endured a wretched season in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 by finishing second from the bottom with nine losses and five wins.
Except one game against eventual champions Kolkata Knight Riders where they mowed down a target of 262 with eight wickets in hand and 10 balls to spare, there wasn’t anything to write home about the Kings.
As a result of multiple injuries and instabilities within their set-up Punjab Kings failed to reach playoffs for the 10th consecutive year. The amount of investment they put in the team didn’t even come close to a payoff.
Going into the IPL 2025 auction, the Kings cleared their decks very early by retaining just two players – Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh. Their purse of INR 110.5 crore was enough to scare their competitors and also someone like Rishabh Pant who was released by Delhi Capitals.
However, they made smart purchases by buying back pacer Arshdeep Singh and breaking the bank for Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marcus Stoinis and Marco Jansen. They also got the services of Glenn Maxwell, Lockie Ferguson and Josh Inglis which is a good sign.
However, the optimism after the auction needs few things for the actual season to be a success. Here are three things that need to go right for Punjab Kings
Despite pulling off an unbelievable chase against KKR, the Kings were in the bottom rung of batters last season with an average of 27.62 in the first 10 overs which was the worst for any side in IPL 2024.
Their top five batting was even worse averaging at 25.2 as the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossow and Liam Livingstone all failed to reach even 300 runs from the entire tournament. They also lost 42 wickets in the first half of the innings, the most for any side in the entire season.
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Once can say that the Kings were sorely missing the stability Shikhar Dhawan brings at the top, but even the experienced left-hander couldn’t have done much with such bad numbers. This season, however, it will be up to Shreyas Iyer, Inglis, Maxwell alongside Shashank and Prabhsimran to keep their starts bright and early losses minimum.
As the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy began, it seemed that Punjab Kings made a wise decision to retain Prabhsimran Singh for INR 4 crore. The top-order batter scored 207 runs in 6 matches at an impressive strike rate of 165.60 and average of 34.5 showcasing he can do the same in the IPL.
The 24-year-old was the second highest runscorer for the team in IPL 2024 with 334 runs from 14 matches with a decent strike rate of 156. While this looks like a fixed spot, there is a question about Prabhsimran’s partner.
Marcus Stoinis can open the batting, but he is at his best while batting in the middle and lower-middle order. Josh Inglis is a good option as he has scored 1,414 runs as an opener from 40 T20 innings at a strike rate of 152. However, including the Australian keeper-batter for that one role means sacrificing somewhere else.
Punjab Kings’ squad for IPL 2025 probably looks the most balanced team they have had in years. The likes of Maxwell, Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank, Azmatullah Omarzai and Marco Jansen have big hitting abilities which can help them through middle and death overs. The surplus of all-rounders is one of the best things about their squad this season.
Also having multiple pace-bowling options in their squad is a big plus. They were the best death-overs side last year with their pacers claiming 45 wickets with a superb average of 16.69 which is second best to champions KKR. They can build on that good work this season with a domestic arsenal of Kuldeep Sen, Yash Thakur and Vyshak Vijay Kumar assisting Arshdeep and Jansen. They will also have Omarzai, Stoinis to chip in with a full quota of four overs if needed.
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