IPL 2025: Top positives for Punjab Kings from their breakthrough season. Can Punjab build on this momentum and go one step further in 2026?
When the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) notched up 190 runs, the lowest first-innings total at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad this year, Punjab Kings (PBKS) looked confident. And they had several reasons for that. Just a couple of nights ago, they chased down a huge total of 204 runs against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the same venue.
Finals are always about holding the nerves in crunch situations. However, the Shreyas Iyer-led side missed experience from their uncapped players, who fell like a pack of cards. Apart from Josh Inglis, no one provided early momentum to the 2014 runners-up.
Overall, it was a superb campaign for the franchise, who finished at the top of the points table. They earned nine victories in 14 games at a net run rate of +0.372.
Here are the positives for PBKS from IPL 2025 campaign:
Contribution from uncapped batters
Before the beginning of the IPL 2025, Punjab displayed their belief in the young and uncapped players. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh combined a strong and consistent opening partnership between them. The southpaw clubbed 475 runs in 17 innings at a strike rate of nearly 180 with two fifties and one century.
Meanwhile, Prabhsimran finished the season with 549 runs in 17 innings at a strike rate of over 160. Their middle order was also powerful in the presence of Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh. The left-handed batter drilled 369 runs at a strike rate of 145.84, while Shashank touched the 350-run mark.
Punjab’s coach Ricky Ponting believes that ‘these younger guys around this team for a long time are going to win a lot of games going forward.’
Read More: IPL 2025, Final, RCB vs PBKS: Bengaluru break the IPL code in 18th attempt, emerge as champions
Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy exposure
With the amount of changes Punjab has made in the coaching department and the management over the years, it’s hard to earn success. However, Shreyas Iyer’s presence with Ponting has brought calmness in the group. They have started to trust the process and offer a long rope to the young players.
Iyer’s leadership was fabulous throughout the season, and it resulted in the franchise finishing at the top of the points table. He used the bowlers in various phases of the game and was smart enough to come up with different ideas.
With the bat, he finished as the franchise’s leading run-getter of the season with 604 runs. The right-handed batter achieved the feat in 17 innings at an average of over 50 and a strike rate of 175.07, celebrating six half-centuries.
It wasn’t an easy job to come from a different side and gel with the management quickly. However, Iyer got the freedom to make decisions and repay them the runners-up tag.
Read More: Shreyas Iyer’s 87*(41) in Qualifier 2 ranks at the top in terms of impact in a knockout game
All-round bowling performances
For any side to do well in a tournament, bowlers’ contribution always becomes vital. Their veteran pacer, Arshdeep Singh, has picked up wickets to put pressure on the opponents with the new ball. The left-arm seamer ended with 21 scalps in 16 innings at an economy rate of below nine.
Four PBKS bowlers picked up 10 or more wickets in the campaign. Yuzvendra Chahal, despite a poor start in the tournament, made a dominating return to the competition, finishing with 16 wickets at an economy of 9.55.
There were patches when Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, and Vijaykumar Vyshak stepped up in the crisis. Ponting aims to see development from the bowling department with ‘bigger and stronger performance next season.’
Before the start of the IPL 2025, the former Australia captain sat with Shreyas in the press conference and aimed to ‘become a daring and dynamic team.’ Their overall performances have surely carried them to that level. However, there are a few areas they need to work on for the next season.
The lack of experience of playing knockouts on the big stage soaked a lot out of the young players. From the start, both openers were a bit edgy. Once Iyer got out cheaply, the responsibility fell on the inexperienced middle order. They couldn’t calculate the progression and fell short by six runs.
Glenn Maxwell was supposed to carry the team’s middle order this season. But his poor returns of 48 runs in seven innings at an average of eight demolished their entire planning. If they can add a few veteran members, then it will repair the middle order and give more liberty to the top order.
Punjab doesn’t need to start from scratch unlike the previous seasons. They just need to carry the momentum and expect results in the upcoming IPL 2026.
Read More: IPL 2025: Iyer-Ponting reunion as captain-coach duo worked well for PBKS
