Punjab Kings


The Punjab Kings, also known as PBKS, formerly known as Kings XI Punjab, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in New Chandigarh, Punjab, that competes in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karan Paul. The team plays its home matches at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, although since the 2010 season, they have played some matches at Dharamshala and Indore. Apart from the 2014 season when they topped the league table and finished runners-up, the team has only made one other playoff appearance. The team emerged as Runner Ups in 2014 Indian Premier League when they lost the finals against Kolkata Knight Riders and, also in 2025 Indian Premier League when they lost the finals against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The franchise played in the now-defunct Champions League Twenty20 once, in 2014 when they finished as semi-finalists. The team name was changed to Punjab Kings in February
2021. In 2025 IPL auction, the franchise made the second highest-ever bid for a player in the IPL, paying for Shreyas Iyer.

Franchise history

In 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India created the cricket tournament the Indian Premier League, based on the Twenty20 format of the game. Franchises for eight cities were made available in an auction held in Mumbai on 20 February 2008. The team representing Punjab was bought by the Dabur group's Mohit Burman, the Wadia group's Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, and Saptarshi Dey of the Dey & Dey Group. The group paid a total of $76 million to acquire the franchise.
As the Kings XI Punjab, the franchise's catchment areas were the regions of Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana—evident from the letter sequence "K J H P H" in the banner of the team's old logo.

Expulsion from the IPL and return

Following the controversy surrounding the BCCI and Lalit Modi in 2010, the Indian Premier League announced on 10 October 2010 that it had terminated the franchise contracts of Kings XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals. The teams announced that they would take legal action to remain in the Indian Premier League. Initially, the team tried to negotiate a solution with the league, but when one could not be reached, they decided to file a legal case in the Bombay High Court. They accused the IPL of getting rid of the two teams so that when the bidding process would start for the 2012 IPL season, the contract would be given to a more lucrative bidder.
The termination order was stayed by the Bombay High Court, and the legal dispute between the BCCI and the franchise ended in 2012.

Name change

On 17 February 2021, Kings XI Punjab was renamed to Punjab Kings, ahead of the 2021 Indian Premier League. Ness Wadia explained the reason for changing the franchise name was to "relook at things" and rebrand after 13 seasons of the IPL. He expressed his disappointment over the franchise for "not being able to win a title" and expected them to "start afresh" after a name change. He added that the name change had been planned two years ago and COVID-19 had just delayed the announcement.

Captains

Last updated: 4 May 2025
PlayerFromToMatchesWonLostTiedNRWin%Best Result
200820092917120058.62SF
2010201013391023.075/8
20102010101000Stand-In
2011201334171700505/10
2012201312660050Stand-In
201420153014160046.66Runners-up
20152015100100Stand-In
201620166150016.668/8
201620168350037.58/8
20172017147700505/8
201820192812160042.856/8
202020212710152037.076/8
20212022147700506/10
20222024176110035.298/10
2023202411560045.45Stand-In
20242024101000Stand-In
20252025171050162.5Runners-up

Team history

Early IPL seasons (2008-2010)

The 2008 tournament got off to a slow start for the Kings XI Punjab, with the team losing their first two games. However, 94 runs by Kumar Sangakkara helped them to win the third game. Despite the absence of Brett Lee and Simon Katich, the team found its groove. Powered by their balanced bowling line-up and effective top order, the team won nine of its next 10 matches, clinching a berth in the semi-final, where their run in the tournament came to an end with a comprehensive nine-wicket loss to the Chennai Super Kings.
Shaun Marsh was arguably KXIP's star player in the inaugural IPL. The opener from Western Australia was overlooked in the IPL player auctions and was signed by the franchise on 9 April. He finished the tournament as the Orange Cap holder—the award for the player with the most runs across the competition—with an average of 68.44 and a strike rate of 139.68 in 11 innings. Marsh managed to hit one century and five half-centuries across the course of the tournament.
Finishing as semi-finalists in 2008, Kings XI Punjab started with ambitions to win the trophy. These were supported by their new sponsors Emirates. With two available slots to fill, the Kings XI Punjab made bids on Jerome Taylor and Yusuf Abdulla at the second IPL auction.
The team took a hit as most of their Australian cricketers were unavailable. The team lacked available pace bowlers after Jerome Taylor backed out at the last minute with an injury.
The team lost badly to the Delhi Daredevils and the Kolkata Knight Riders, however, they returned to form by beating the Royal Challengers, the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians. Then the team witnessed a roller-coaster ride in their next eight matches with four wins and four losses. The team's semi-final hopes were crushed after losing to the Chennai Super Kings in their last match.
Kings XI Punjab lost six matches to the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Delhi Daredevils, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Deccan Chargers, the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians but managed to win a match against Chennai Super Kings when the scores were level and the match went to a Super Over. Kings XI Punjab were boosted by the return of Brett Lee against Kolkata, but he was not at his best. Shaun Marsh returned in the match against the Mumbai Indians. In spite of his good performance, which included a half century, the team lost the match. They ended the 2010 IPL in the last position.

Rise of Kings XI Punjab (2011-2014)

The 2011 IPL season looked promising when they brought a full strength team with Michael Bevan as coach and Adam Gilchrist appointed as the captain.
Kings XI Punjab missed out on the playoffs by two points. This meant they finished fifth in the points table.
Kings XI Punjab finished in sixth place overall, winning eight matches out of sixteen.
Kings XI Punjab failed to qualify for the play-offs, but batsman David Miller played one of the innings of the tournament in the 51st match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, as he smashed 101 off 38 deliveries and included eight fours and seven sixes. Coming in at no. 5 when Kings XI Punjab was struggling with only 51 runs in the scoreboard in the eighth over and chasing a target of 190, Miller rectified the game and led Punjab to a six-wicket win with two overs remaining. Adam Gilchrist retired at the end of the season.
Australia's T20I captain George Bailey was leading the squad for the seventh season. Other buys featured the likes of Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson. Kings XI Punjab began the tournament by winning their first five games which were held outside India in UAE due to the general elections. The stand out player was Glenn Maxwell with his unorthodox and powerful hitting, scoring 95, 89 and 95 in his first three innings with a strike rate of over 200 who got equal contribution from South African David Miller, both of them making the side look invincible. There were many innings from the veteran Indian batsman Virender Sehwag and young star Manan Vohra which made the middle order batting easy and allowed the team to qualify for the playoffs. Due to a 122 run knock from Virender Sehwag against the Chennai Super Kings in the semifinal, KXIP made their way to the final. There they faced the Kolkata Knight Riders where they batted first and set a good target of 199 owing to Wriddhiman Saha's 115. However, due to Manish Pandey's 94 off 50 balls and his teammates' consistently high strike rate, including Piyush Chawla's 13 off five balls, KKR were able to win the final by three wickets in the final over of the match.