Kings XI Punjab

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Lore & Background

In 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) 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 (46%), the Wadia group's Ness Wadia (23%), Preity Zinta (23%), and Karan Paul (minor stake). 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. 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. 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.

In Their Own Story

The 2014 season marked the franchise's most successful run under captain George Bailey and coach Sanjay Bangar. After winning all five opening matches in the UAE, they topped the table but lost the final to Kolkata Knight Riders despite Wriddhiman Saha becoming the first player to score a century (115*) in an IPL final. Glenn Maxwell was named MVP for scoring 552 runs at a strike rate of 187.75. The team also competed in the 2014 Champions League Twenty20, where they remained unbeaten in the group stage, setting a record win by 120 runs against the Northern Knights before losing to Chennai Super Kings in the semi-finals. Decades later, in the 2025 IPL auction, the franchise made history with the second-highest-ever bid of ₹26.75 crore for Shreyas Iyer.

Reader's Guide

The 2008 tournament got off to a slow start for the Kings XI Punjab, with the team losing their first two games. However, a player of the match performance by Kumar Sangakkara, who scored 94 runs off 56 balls, helped them defeat Mumbai Indians by 66 runs in their third game. Despite the absence of Brett Lee and Simon Katich for parts of the season, the team found its groove, winning nine of its next 10 matches. They clinched a semi-final berth but suffered a nine-wicket loss to the Chennai Super Kings. Shaun Marsh was the breakout star of the inaugural season. Signed as an uncapped player on 9 April after being overlooked in the auction, he finished as the tournament's first Orange Cap holder. Marsh amassed 616 runs in just 11 innings at an average of 68.44, including one century and five half-centuries. In 2009, the tournament moved to South Africa due to security concerns in India. The franchise signed a sponsorship deal with Emirates and sought to bolster its bowling by bidding for Jerome Taylor and Yusuf Abdulla. However, Taylor was ruled out due to injury before the season began, and the team struggled with the unavailability of key Australian players. Despite a mid-season resurgence, their semi-final hopes were crushed after a final league match loss to Chennai Super Kings, leaving them in 5th place. The 2010 season was the team's most difficult of the early era, as they finished in last position (8th) with only four wins. A major highlight was their first-ever Super Over victory against Chennai Super Kings; after both teams tied at 136 runs, Juan Theron restricted Chennai to 9 runs in the tie-breaker, which Yuvraj Singh chased down with a boundary off Muttiah Muralitharan. Mahela Jayawardene was the team's leading run-scorer for the season with 472 runs. The 2011 IPL season saw a complete overhaul as the franchise appointed Michael Bevan as coach and Adam Gilchrist as captain. The team narrowly missed the playoffs, finishing fifth on the table after a five-match losing streak mid-season hampered their progress. A standout individual performance came from uncapped opener Paul Valthaty, who scored a century (120*) against Chennai Super Kings, then the highest individual score in the tournament's history. In 2012, the team finished sixth overall, winning eight of their sixteen matches. Mandeep Singh emerged as a key domestic talent, finishing as the team

Did You Know?

• The franchise was originally bought for $76 million in 2008.
• Shaun Marsh was the first Orange Cap winner in IPL history, scoring 616 runs in 2008.
• Wriddhiman Saha scored the first century in an IPL final in 2014.
• The team was renamed Punjab Kings in February 2021 after 13 seasons.
• In 2025, the franchise made the second highest-ever bid for a player in the IPL, paying ₹26.75 crore for Shreyas Iyer.