Captain: Shikhar Dhawan
Coach: Trevor Bayliss
Home ground: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
IPL titles: 0
Owners: Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, Karan Paul

Punjab Kings (previously Kings XI Punjab) was bought for Rs 304 crore (about US$76 million) in 2008 by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karan Paul. The only franchises that went for lower were Rajasthan Royals (Rs 268 crore, $67 million) and Kolkata Knight Riders (Rs 300 crore, $75.09 million). Punjab, who changed their name ahead of the 2021 IPL, have got to the final only once.

History

They had a promising start in the first season, but haven't enjoyed consistent success, lacking a stable core. In October 2010, the IPL governing council expelled Punjab and Rajasthan Royals from the league, alleging transgression of shareholding and ownership norms. The matter reached the courts, and both franchises were reinstated, but the uncertainty affected Punjab's plans for the auction in 2011, where they had a chance to rebuild their team. Their coach, Michael Bevan, was appointed just four days before the auction, and they ended up not retaining any players.

After three more middling years, they hit a sweet spot in the 2014 auction, assembling an exciting team under Sanjay Bangar as coach and going on to top the league stage and lose a closely fought final against KKR, while also reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League T20. But they haven't quite been able to build on those gains since.

At the turn of the 2020s, though they were among the higher-rated sides due to their batting-heavy line-up, Punjab continued to remain on the fringes. A new captain in 2022, Mayank Agarwal, didn't help turn their fortunes around, and he was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan in 2023.

The highs

A new-look team, captained by George Bailey, set a scorching pace in 2014. Glenn Maxwell - who finished as Player of the Tournament - started with a slew of marauding innings, ably supported by David Miller. Punjab topped the table with 11 wins in 14 matches, but they narrowly lost the final despite piling up 199.

The lows

They finished as wooden spooners three times: in 2010, 2015 and 2016. The 2015 season was particularly galling, coming as it did after their best year. They won only three games and lost 11 in 2015.

Season by season

2008 - third
Shaun Marsh came to international attention with a blockbuster season, scoring 616 runs and driving Punjab to the knockouts. They won 11 of their 14 league games and lost to Chennai Super Kings in the semi-final by nine wickets.

2009 - fifth
They tied for points on the table with eventual champions Deccan Chargers but had a considerably lower net run rate, and so didn't qualify for the semi-finals. Punjab didn't have any standout performances in the tournament, played in South Africa, and they would have finished seventh if Mumbai Indians had not messed up a modest chase against them.

2010 - eighth
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara made over 800 runs between them, and Irfan Pathan contributed all round, but Punjab seemed to lose the vital moments. They won only one out of their first eight games. The losses were often close, but without the points to show for it, they wilted, eventually finishing bottom of the heap.

2011 - fifth
Punjab missed out on a spot in the knockouts. Adam Gilchrist led a revamped team; Marsh remained and produced another stellar season. The rest of the batting and bowling was adequate and consistent without being spectacular, which reflected in their eventual position.

2012 - sixth
The bowlers, led by Parvinder Awana and Piyush Chawla, outperformed the batters this season, although their top scorer, Mandeep Singh, did get the Emerging Player of the Year award. Punjab finished sixth out of nine teams, though the teams placed fourth and fifth had only one point more.

2013 - sixth
The high point of their season came when David Miller announced himself on the big stage with a 38-ball unbeaten century against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but overall Punjab had a middling tournament, with eight wins and eight losses.

2014 - runners-up
They were clear leaders in the group stage, with 11 wins. Maxwell and Miller had a great season with the bat; Virender Sehwag contributed a vital century in the second qualifier, but in the final, despite a hundred from Wriddhiman Saha, Punjab went down in a thrilling last-over finish against KKR.

2015 - eighth
Everything that could go pear-shaped did. Maxwell averaged 13 over 11 innings, and though Miller was their highest run-getter, he was a shadow of his 2014 self. Only three wins in the league stage meant Punjab were consigned to the bottom of the table.

2016 - eighth
Another dismal season. Punjab's fortunes were reflected in their final league match, against Rising Pune Supergiant. Both teams were on eight points, battling to avoid a bottom finish, and Punjab seemed to have the upper hand defending 23 off the final over. But MS Dhoni hit a four and two sixes off the last three balls to seal victory for Pune.

2017 - fifth
Maxwell was made captain, and Punjab enjoyed a somewhat better season than their previous two, but they were bowled out for 73, their lowest total in the IPL so far, against Rising Pune Supergiant in a game they needed to win to be in contention for a playoff spot.

2018 - seventh
The squad underwent another change after another major auction, and R Ashwin was appointed captain. They won five of their first six matches but then found their fortunes reversed, getting a solitary win from their next eight games. The bright spot was KL Rahul's 659 runs, the third highest aggregate of the season.

2019 - sixth
Punjab finished on six wins and 12 points, but one spot higher on the table than the previous year. If one close defeat had turned into victory, they would have been in the playoffs, but despite quality performances from Rahul, Ashwin and Mohammed Shami, they weren't consistent enough.

2020 - sixth
Punjab ended the season with six wins and 12 points again. Their season was a rollercoaster, with just one win to show from several agonisingly close games in the first half, followed by five consecutive victories in a late surge for a playoff spot, but they were unable to sustain that momentum.

2021 - sixth
For the third straight season, they finished sixth on the table with 12 points. Nothing changed significantly from previous years: the openers still did the bulk of the scoring (Rahul finished among the top scorers in the tournament), and the side showed sparks of brilliance, but were not able to string enough solid performances together on the whole.

2022 - sixth
Finishing sixth for the fourth year in a row, Kings failed to capitalise on their big-hitting line-up. Seven wins proved not nearly enough in a ten-team season, with individual performances not translating into team effort. They were left to rue close losses, ending possibly one win away from a playoffs spot.

2023 - eighth
Punjab weren't as poor as their position on the table suggests - they didn't lose more than two games in a row at any point, but they never got a strong run going either. They missed the explosiveness of the injured Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone couldn't play the first six games due to fitness issues. But two uncapped batters stepped up in their place, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma

Key players

KL Rahul
He was bought for Rs 11 crore ($1.7 million) in the 2018 auction and has been the leading run-scorer for the franchise in every season since, going on to become their all-time leading run getter in 2021. He was appointed captain for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, before moving to Lucknow Super Giants in 2022.

Chris Gayle
Bought at the very end of the 2018 auction, Gayle shrugged off some middling T20 returns to become a batting lynchpin for the side. He has scored over 1300 runs in 41 matches for them, and could have added to that tally had he not taken a break in the second leg of the 2021 season due to bubble fatigue.

Shaun Marsh
Marsh did not have a single bad season in over ten years with the team, piling up runs quietly and effectively. His career took off on the back of the first IPL, but while he experienced ups and downs elsewhere, he was rock solid for Punjab, as nearly 2500 runs show.

David Miller
Another batter who grabbed global attention with his feats for Punjab. He has even captained the team, though not with great success, and for eight seasons he was one of the few constants in a side otherwise in constant flux.

Team records

Squad

(OP) Overseas Players

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