In search of their first Indian Premier League (IPL) title, the Punjab Kings, often labeled as the tournament’s underachievers, are set to launch the 18th season with a new leadership pairing: captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting. Their campaign begins with an away match against the 2022 champions, Gujarat Giants, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Iyer, who recently led the Kolkata Knight Riders to a championship in the 2024 season and guided the Delhi Capitals to the final in 2020, will aim to transform the fortunes of PBKS, who finished last season in a disappointing 9th place. Notably, Punjab has struggled to secure a top-five finish in the past four seasons.

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Punjab’s best performance came a decade ago when they were runners-up in 2014 and reached the semifinals in 2018. As they enter the 2025 season, the franchise is hopeful that the partnership of Iyer and Ponting will finally break the jinx.

On the flip side, the Titans, previous winners in their debut season, finished as runners-up in 2023 but dropped to an 8th place finish under new captain Shubman Gill in the 2024 season. They will be looking to start anew this season.

Both Iyer and Gill have been in stellar form with the bat, greatly contributing to India’s ICC Champions Trophy success. Iyer emerged as the top run-scorer with 243 runs, while Gill made a mark with a century against Bangladesh.

As the PBKS retained only two uncapped Indian players—Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh—before the season, they made significant investments at the mega auction last November, shelling out an impressive Rs 26.75 crore for Iyer and acquiring Arshdeep Singh back via the Right-to-Match option, alongside key players like leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.

Iyer will lead from the front with the support of key players like Josh Inglis and Prabhsimran at the top of the order, as well as Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis bolstering the middle order. Arshdeep, alongside Lockie Ferguson and Yuzvendra Chahal, will lead the bowling attack.

The home side has assembled a formidable lineup, expecting Gill and Jos Buttler to open the batting, with a robust middle order featuring Sherfane Rutherford, Sai Sudharsan, and M Shahrukh Khan. The all-round abilities of Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, and Mahipal Lomror add depth to their squad.

The Titans’ bowling unit is also impressive, featuring Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Gerald Coetzee, and Ishant Sharma in the pace department, alongside Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore as the primary spinners.

As both teams prepare to set the season’s tone, the match promises to be an exciting fixture with the unpredictable pitch conditions at the Narendra Modi Stadium adding to the intrigue.

Squads:

Gujarat Giants: Shubman Gill (c), Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Sherfane Rutherford, Sai Sudharsan, M Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Phillips, Nishant Sindhu, Manav Suthar, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Gerald Coetzee, Gurnoor Brar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kagiso Rabada, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav.

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (c), Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Josh Inglis, Prabhsimran Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Aaron Hardie, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Musheer Khan, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Kuldeep Sen, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur.