These overseas players have had an average or below-par season for the franchise in the IPL 2025.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) have had a stunning outing in the latest season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Since the inception of the cash-rich league in 2008, the franchise had qualified for the playoffs only twice before this edition. Captain Yuvraj Singh led his team (then Kings XI Punjab) to the semi-final in the inaugural season but a nine-wicket defeat against the Chennai Super Kings ended their campaign at the Wankhede Stadium.
The franchise once again reached the playoffs and entered the final of IPL 2014 under the leadership of George Bailey. But the IPL 2012 champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), restricted them from claiming their maiden IPL trophy while winning their second. Since then, the team endured a lean patch for ten long years as they finished the league stage from fifth to ninth position in all the editions till IPL 2024.
But coming into the IPL 2025, they gathered a strong squad from the player auction which laid the foundation of a great season ahead. Moreover, appointing Australian great Ricky Ponting as the head coach and acquiring previous edition’s title-winning captain, Shreyas Iyer, for a mammoth INR 26.75 crores eventually proved to be the key to their brilliant run in the latest edition.
Unfortunately, they stumbled in the ultimate hurdle to end their 17-year-long wait as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated them by six runs to win the T20 league. But they have already accumulated a rich core group to give it a shot again in the upcoming season. However, there were some overseas players who failed to produce the best of themselves for the franchise in the IPL 2025. Let’s look at the star foreign players whom Punjab Kings may release to include different talents in their squad ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
The Australian all-rounder, Glenn Maxwell, once again failed to deliver for the franchise in his six years of representing PBKS so far. He scored 48 runs at a below-par strike rate of 97.96 and scalped four wickets at an economy of 8.46 in seven matches. Notably, Maxwell has had only three 400-plus seasons in his 13-year-long IPL career so far.
However, his fellow national teammate, Mitchell Owen, replaced him in the squad after a finger injury sidelined him from the tournament. Though he appeared in only one fixture for them this season, the team might retain Owen in his place after a recent fiery outing in the latest Major league Cricket (MLC) 2025. The youngster scored 313 runs at a blazing strike rate of 194.40 and scalped 14 wickets at an economy of 9.26 in 12 matches of the tournament for the Washington Freedom.
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Another Australian all-rounder, Marcus Stoinis, also underperformed in the latest season of the cash-rich league. Though he played a few crucial cameos for the team with a blistering strike rate of 186.05, but accumulated only 160 runs in 13 matches.
Stoinis also scalped only one wicket throughout the league at an expensive economy of 12.35. This may propel the management to find another all-rounder in place of him ahead of the next IPL season.
The Australian pacer could not produce a stunning performance in his debut IPL season. He featured in four matches for PBKS and scalped two wickets at an economy of 9.60. However, the seamer showcased a stunning form in the latest MLC season to become the highest wicket-take of this edition.
He bagged 18 wickets in 11 fixtures at an economy of 8.86 for his team San Francisco Unicorns. But after failing to show proper potential in the limited opportunities this season, the team may look to acquire different overseas pace option to replace him ahead of the IPL 2026.
The Afghanistani all-rounder also had an average season in the IPL 2025. He scalped eight wickets at an economy of 10.33 and scored 57 runs for PBKS in nine matches of this season.
The 25-year-old also had a mediocre season with the Gujarat Titans (GT), where he scalped only four wickets and scored 42 runs in seven matches of the previous season.
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