The Punjab Kings (PBKS) faced a heartbreaking loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) Final. Playing a summit clash after 11-long years, PBKS would have hoped to break the jinx and win their maiden title but instead it was RCB who realised the dream.
Nevertheless, the one loss doesn’t really define PBKS’s campaign, who has been a formidable force to reckon against throughout the season. The Shreyas Iyer-led side finished at the top of the points table after the league stage which serves as a testament to the sheer talent the team possesses.
Interestingly, much of their success has been delivered by their relatively young Indian core, complemented by the experience of Shreyas Iyer and few overseas stars.
PBKS coach Ricky Ponting also echoed the same after loss to RCB, “Maybe a little bit of experience in that middle order today might have helped us out, but what I know is that we’re going to have these younger guys around this team for a long time and I think they’re going to win us a lot of games going forward”
PBKS decided to back their young talents and despite the final loss, the future looks extremely promising for the franchise.
The uncapped young opening duo of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya has been a lynchpin in the PBKS batting lineup. The duo registered 532 runs for the first wicket across 17 innings amongst them, the fourth highest this season.
The LHB-RHB combination along with the fact that both players are only 24-year-old, PBKS have their opening pair sorted for the next few seasons.
Notably, Prabhsimran was retained by PBKS for INR 4 crores ahead of the IPL 2025 auction while they acquired Arya for INR 3.8 crores.
The left-handed Priyansh had a stellar debut season, amassing close to 500 runs (475 to be precise) while hitting at an explosive rate touching 180, including a century and a couple of fifties. Prabh, on the other hand, racked up 549 runs, averaging over 30s and striking at 160.
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The PBKS middle order is led by skipper Shreyas Iyer along with Indian batting talents like Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh. All three have looked in top touch with Iyer finishing IPL 2025 as the side’s highest scorer with a 600-plus season.
Nehal Wadhera too has stepped up whenever the situation demanded and have shown his ability to bat through phases and change gears accordingly.
For Shashank, who was a mistake buy in IPL 2024, he has really proved that ‘all mistakes aren’t bad’. He was a revelation last season which made him one of the two players PBKS retained for IPL 2025. And the 33-year-old has gone from strength to strength, evolving into one of the best finishers in the business. In fact, he had the best numbers in a finisher’s role this season, scoring 325 runs at a stellar average of 65. RCB’s Jitesh Sharma is second on the list with 217 runs.
Apart from them, PBKS also have the likes of Musheer Khan and Suryansh Shedge in their roster who didn’t get much chance in IPL 2025 but are definitely top talents to watch out for the future.
The presence of Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal mean they have a spearhead for both the pace and spin departments. With the T20 format being especially tricky for bowlers, the experience and guile that both the India internationals can put across the table are pivotal. Arshdeep finished in the top-five wicket-takers list this season while Chahal picked up his second hat-trick of IPL career, joining the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Amit Mishra to have more than one.
PBKS also have the talented Vyshak Vijaykumar, who can adapt to conditions really well and boasts of variations with his slower balls and cutters. Harpreet Brar is another spin option in the roster and can work in tandem with Yuzi.
The likes of Yash Thakur, Harnoor Pannu, Kuldeep Sen are other promising Indian players in the PBKS arsenal and if retained, have the potential to come big in subsequent seasons.
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