PBKS wait on Stoinis and Inglis as IPL 2025 gears up for resumption

Four Punjab Kings (PBKS) overseas players* - Xavier Bartlett, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mitchell Owen and Marco Jansen - have confirmed to the franchise that they will return to play the remainder of IPL 2025, which is set to resume on May 17.

There is no confirmation yet on whether their other overseas players - Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis and Aaron Hardie - will return to India. Inglis was named in Australia's Test squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's from June 11, respectively. Jansen is also part of South Africa's squad for the WTC final, and it is understood that PBKS are having discussions with him on how long he will be able to stretch his availability, as South Africa players are expected to leave by May 25.

Despite all the PBKS overseas players returning home, most of their overseas coaching staff stayed in India, including head coach Ricky Ponting and assistant coaches Brad Haddin and James Hopes. The franchise has asked its players and support staff to reassemble in the next two days.

PBKS will resume training on Thursday in Jaipur, their new base for the remaining games against Rajasthan Royals (May 18), Delhi Capitals (May 24) and Mumbai Indians (May 26).

They are third on the points table with 15 points after 11 games, and were in the middle of their 12th league fixture against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Dharamsala on May 8 when the match had to be abandoned during the first innings, after which the IPL was suspended because of escalating cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.

The IPL was suspended on May 9 for one week, but the announcement of a ceasefire between the two countries on May 10 paved the way for the league's resumption.

The IPL released the revised schedule for the remainder of the season on Monday: there are 13 league games to go, in addition to the four playoff fixtures. The rest of the league phase will be played at six venues - Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru - while the venues for the playoffs have not yet been announced. The dates for the playoffs are as follows: Qualifier 1 on May 29, the Eliminator on May 30, Qualifier 2 on June 1 and the final on June 3.