Punjab Kings – History, Players, Records and All you need to Know

The Punjab franchise has been in the IPL right from the inaugural season and since then they have had changed coaches, captains, players, and even the team name, but one thing to date they couldn’t change is their fortunes and erratic performances. Many times, on paper, Punjab Kings seem to have a side to reckon with, unfortunately, what was on the paper remains on the paper. 

Know everything about Punjab Kings – “Fearless Entertainers“

How was Punjab Kings franchise formed?

The Punjab franchise was bought by the Dabur group’s Mohit Burman (46%), the Wadia group’s Ness Wadia (23%), Preity Zinta (23%), and Saptarshi Dey of the Dey & Dey Group (minor stake) for the total of $76 million.

The inaugural season of Punjab Kings in the IPL

The inaugural season of IPL did promise a lot for the Punjab side. They won 11 of their 14 games and lost to CSK in the semi-finals. Shaun Marsh scored the bulk of runs and kicked off his journey to become a KXIP legend. He scored 616 runs and won the Orange Cap.

Mix bag years for Punjab from 2008 to 2014

Punjab couldn’t replicate the inaugural season performances again till 2014. They failed to qualify even for the playoffs and in 2010 finished the league stage right at the bottom of the leaderboard. 

The lone crest

2014 was the only season when every aspect about Punjab Kings had clicked the way they wanted. Australian George Bailey led the side. Other prominent names like Virendra Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell, and Mitchell Johnson were off the blocks straight away. David Miller also stepped in along with big names and not to forget Manan Vohra’s contribution. 

Sehwag’s 122 runs took Punjab into the finals where they faced Knight Riders from Kolkata. 

Thanks to Wriddhiman Saha’s 115, Punjab Kings posted a huge total and perhaps a match-winning total of 199, and the pressure of chasing 200 in the final makes it feel like 250. KKR had chased down a similar kind of target in 2012 final when they won their first IPL title. 

In 2012 it was Manvinder Bisla and this time it was Manish Pandey who took KKR to the winning position. It was an accurately calculated chase. Eventually, Piyush Chawla’s enterprising 13 runs off 5 balls kept Punjab Kings away from their first IPL title. 

Everything went awry for Punjab Kings

Despite a terrific previous season, it was surprising that they finished at number 8 in 2015, right at the bottom of the table. 

In 2016, they followed the suit and since then they have been failing to qualify for the playoffs. 

The team management made some bold decisions. After Bailey’s stint with captaincy, they tried with David Miller, Murali Vijay, Ravichandran Ashwin, but every attempt had been in vain. 

The same story under different cover 

On 17th February 2021, the team management changed the name from Kings XI Punjab to Punjab kings with some minor changes in their jersey. They handed the captaincy cap to KL Rahul. However, the annoying and agonizing story did not even change a bit. 

When being asked about what would be the team’s approach to qualify for the playoffs as they were languishing at the bottom of the table KL Rahul sheepishly said that they are used to being in such conditions.

Well, that really sums up everything. 

Currently, for the 2021 IPL, they are in 6th position with six matches to go. 

We hope some miracle will happen and they will get out of this dire situation.  

Pubjab Kings Records in IPL

Most runs 

Most wickets