The Punjab Kings, despite boasting a talented squad, had a lot of games that didn’t go their way last season, and eventually ended their 2024 campaign in ninth place with just five wins. Now with a revamped squad, a new leader, and a new coaching staff, can the Kings from Punjab finally get it all together and win their first-ever IPL title under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer?
In this article, we take a look at the five domestic players who can make a difference for Punjab Kings.
Prabhsimran Singh
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper batsman has now had two decent seasons with the Punjab Kings in his last two IPLs, earning the faith of the management team with a INR 4 crore retention. Specially coming in as an Impact Sub, Prabhsimran played some crucial innings throughout the 2024 season as an opener.
In the lead up to IPL 2025, the 24-year-old batter has been in fine touch for his state side Punjab. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), Prabhsimran scored 207 runs in six innings with a strike rate of 165.6 while in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), the explosive batter has done even better, scoring 498 runs in eight innings and striking at over 128. With Punjab’s lack of opening options, it’ll be crucial for PBKS to have Prabhsimran at his explosive best and performing consistently.
Shashank Singh
Shashank Singh was one of the standout performers for the Punjab Kings last season. He came out of nowhere, played some blinders and took the team over the line from some very tough and difficult situations. Thus, having signed him for a mere INR 20 lakh during the 2024 mini auction, the Punjab Kings retained him for INR 5.5 crore ahead of the 2025 mega auction.
However, since scoring 354 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 164.6, the 33-year-old Chhattisgarh batter has been on a lean run of form. He scored just 76 runs in six innings at the Chhattisgarh T20 league, followed by another average showing at the SMAT, scoring 102 runs at a strike rate of 132.
Although PBKS have looked to address their fragile batting order from last season, there still isn’t one batter who can be entrusted to challenge for the Orange Cup. Thus, it’ll be crucial that lower order batters like Shashank deliver the goods if they are to make a bid for their first-ever IPL title.
V Vijayakumar
Known for his variations and rise from a net bowler to an overnight IPL sensation, the 27-year-old Karnataka bowler will prove to be a valuable asset in PBKS’ new home ground at Mullanpur that aided bowlers like him immensely last season. After picking up nine wickets in his debut season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Vyshak Vijayakumar could only manage four games last season, although he still looked to be one of the better fast bowlers in that squad.
Despite his average showing in this season’s SMAT, where the Karnataka seamer only picked up five wickets with an economy of 10.22, he’ll be in contention mainly due to his ability to bowl change up deliveries on a consistent basis, something they lacked from Harshal Patel last season. Moreover, given the team has largely relied on fast and hit the deck hard type of bowlers, the addition of Vijayakumar will be a great option both as a starter or as an Impact Sub.
Yash Thakur
The 26-year-old fast bowler following his exceptional debut season with the Lucknow Super Giants where he picked up 13 wickets in nine innings, had a subdued 2024 season where he picked 11 wickets and went at over 11 runs per over. His exceptional skills and quick pace makes him a promising bowler, however, his lack of control and inconsistency has led to leaking him quite a few runs.
Thakur was in decent form in this year’s SMAT playing for Vidharbha as he picked up eight wickets in six innings. With the Punjab Kings likely to go with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis up top, that leaves two overseas slots which means the third seamer role or Impact Sub appearances will be the most likely route the Punjab Kings will take with Thakur.
Harnoor Singh
The Punjab Kings are currently short of options for their opening slots ahead of IPL 2025. Apart from Prabhsimran Singh, who walks in as one of the two openers in the playing XI, the PBKS management will have to go either with Harnoor Singh or Musheer Khan unless they promote someone like Marcus Stoinis to open the batting alongside Prabhsimran.
While the Australian allrounder hasn’t opened the innings for any of his franchises across different competitions, the 19-year-old Musheer Khan, despite his heroics in the Ranji Trophy, is yet to be tested in the limited overs format. Harnoor Singh, on the other hand, has had an excellent Punjab T20 League, scoring 578 runs in just 12 innings and finishing the tournament as the Player of the Series. Moreover, his 153 strike rate in the competition means the 21-year-old also possesses the explosive batting required to give PBKS fast starts during the PowerPlay overs.
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