Retained players: Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh


Purse spent: 97.50 Cr

Purse left: 22.50 Cr

Players bought: 12/25

Overseas buys: 2/8



ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? Like always, the IPL mega auction did not disappoint.

The first day of the mega auction comes to a close with 72 players being sold today, with us being the reason for 10 of those.

We came into the auction having retained just 2 players, ahead of aiming to build from scratch with new head coach Ricky Ponting in charge. With a chance to start with a clean slate, this mega auction was the first step in the right direction for us and we stood up to the occasion.

In hindsight, we come out of Day 1 of the mega auction with a job we all can be proud of, as we look to build through and finish the job in Jeddah. With all said and done, this is how our auction panned out, with a busy day behind us -

Arshdeep Singh: 18 Crore (RTM)
Who else but Arshdeep Singh? The first player under the hammer at the 2025 IPL mega auction, also became our first buy at Jeddah.

We snatched Arshdeep from the claws of our opposition after deciding to exercise our Right-To-Match (RTM) card against the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s final bid of 18 crore. The 25-year-old had been lethal for us with the ball in the previous editions and we look to continue to make life difficult for the opposition batters, with Arshdeep’s skills with the ball.

He has the 2nd-most wickets for India in T20 Internationals, making this purchase more reason to celebrate. Ricky Ponting will no doubt look to bring more out of the left-arm quick, who has become a fan favourite at Mullanpur.

A bowler who can set the tone for us with the ball at the start and get the job done at the death, such a calibre of player is always welcome with open arms. Arshdeep Singh will look to pick up from where he left off for us and get to business straight away.

Our head coach Ponting had some words on our first pick at the 2025 IPL mega auction, “We had certain targets coming into the auction as every team does. Arshdeep was obviously the first one. He's been in our franchise for a number of years. I was really keen to get him back. Left-arm fast bowler, obviously, with a great skill set with the new ball and the old ball and, you know, one of India's leading wicket-takers in T20 cricket. So he was a perfect fit for us to come back into the Punjab Kings.”


Shreyas Iyer: 26.75 Crore
The man of the hour for us at the 2025 IPL mega auction was undoubtedly Shreyas Iyer.

Only the 3rd player in today’s auction, who also became our 2nd purchase of the day.

We broke the bank for the former IPL-winning captain who momentarily became the most expensive player in the tournament's history. After outbidding the others with a bid of 26.75 crore, we bagged the experienced batter who has previously worked with our head coach Ricky Ponting.

On being questioned whether Shreyas will take up the captaincy reigns at Punjab, Ponting said, “I haven’t spoken to him yet, I tried to call him before the auction but he didn’t pick up. He’s been a successful captain in IPL before, I worked with him for 3-4 years in Delhi and he was the championship winner last season. I’m delighted to work with him again, if he can do that for us in the IPL I’ll be pretty happy.”

A batter who can play multiple roles within a batting order will be beneficial for us. Shreyas can bat anywhere in the middle order, be it anchoring an innings or finishing one. A big season to look forward to for us with him, considering he was the captain of the team that finished IPL 2024 on top of the table and eventual Champions.


Yuzvendra Chahal: 18 Crore

The ONLY PLAYER to take 200 wickets in the history of the Indian Premier League. Set 2 of the auction and we were only just getting started with our purchase of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

With him in our roster, we now have the two highest wicket-takers for India in T20 internationals in our squad. Chahal has not only the most wickets in IPL history but he also has the most wickets for India in T20Is.

A fierce bidding war was on show for the former Rajasthan Royals player, but it was us who ended up getting our man over our opponents in the auction room. Chahal, like many modern-day spinners, has a whole host of tricks under his sleeve that can deceive the batter at a given point.

His in-game intelligence will be a huge bonus for us, combined with his wicket-taking abilities. Expect him to be among the top wicket-takers in the upcoming IPL edition. Head coach Ricky Ponting knows what he can expect from Yuzvendra and he only had words of praise for the spinner, “Yuzi is the highest quality Indian spinner in the auction, so, we wanted to fill certain gaps with the best players we possibly could. And yes, we spent a bit of money to get there, but what we're trying to do is rebuild this franchise basically from the ground up and you can't do that without the best players. So, we felt so far that the auction's gone exactly the way we wanted.”



Marcus Stoinis: 11 Crore

How about that? Two Australian powerhouses combine forces in Punjab! Another bidding war saw us go head-to-head with the other teams for the much-coveted Marcus Stoinis.

With his former team opting out of using the RTM on him, we bagged the all-rounder, who will be thrilled to be working with Ponting. An all-rounder who can pretty much do everything on the field, Stoinis is the kind of player every captain wants on their team.

He was a force to be reckoned with in the previous edition of the IPL, delivering with both bat and ball. Stoinis single-handedly helped his former team on multiple occasions to get over the line and will be hoping to replicate the same form with us in the upcoming season.



Glen Maxwell: 4.20 Crore

The Big Show will be donning red & gold once again!

Glen Maxwell returns for his 3rd stint with us and you know what they say? The third time is the charm! He joins Stoinis as the 2nd all-rounder who will be working under Ricky Ponting and will be itching to get out there on the field with us which can be described as an ‘unfinished business’ for him.

The Australian all-rounder needs no introduction, he is a menace with the bat and a handy baller. His fielding abilities are second to none, while he is also a leader in the dressing room. With so many youngsters in the squad, the presence of someone as experienced as Maxwell will give them a huge lift.



Nehal Wadhera: 4.20 Crore

We kicked things off in the uncapped territory with the purchase of 24-year-old Nehal Wadhera. The left-handed batter plays for Punjab in the domestic circuit and was part of the Mumbai Indians setup last season.

With them choosing not to exercise their RTM for Wadhera, he will be repping the Punjab Kings colours in the 18th edition of the IPL.



Harpreet Brar: 1.50 Crore

With a starting base price of 30 lakhs, we bought Harpreet Brar for 1.50 crores, who will continue his journey with us for a 7th season running.

Vishnu Vinod: 95 lakh

The 31-year-old right-hand wicketkeeper batter entered the auction with a base price of 30 lakhs. A bidding tug-of-war saw his price go up to 95 lakhs, as he became our 8th purchase of the day at the 2024 IPL mega auction.

Vyshak Vijaykumar: 1.8 crore

A bowler who could easily become one of the mystery weapons for us next season. Vyshak Vijaykumar recently earned a maiden T20I call-up for the Indian team.

The Karnataka seamer has some very deceptive slower balls in his locker. A bidding war with GT ended with us getting the bowler for 1.8 crore.



Yash Thakur: 1.6 crore

Indian fast bowlers are always in demand at the IPL auction, and Yash Thakur is no exception.

The Vidarbha seam bowler played decently whenever the opportunity arose for him at LSG last season. A solid bidding session ended with us getting our man for 1.6 crore.

All in all, it was a very good day for us at the table as we look to fill the important gaps in the team. We will look forward to filling the rest of the slots in the accelerated round tomorrow.

We had the largest purse string heading into today’s action and we made sure to capitalize on all possible departments. With a purse value of 22.50 crore remaining for us to play with and a minimum of 6 slots to fill in Day 2 at the 2025 IPL mega auction, things will only get interesting from here on.