Yuzvendra Chahal, the spin wizard of India, will be donning the Punjab Kings jersey in the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the franchise purchased him for INR 18 crores. The bid was between RCB and PBKS but the latter succeeded in getting him. Former India batter Aakash Chopra was happy with Chahal's entry in the PBKS team rather than RCB. As per Chopra, RCB doesn't have any spin bowler and Chahal would have been all alone, without any support.
"They don’t have good spinners once again. RCB went for Chahal but left the bid midway. Ashwin was not targeted. It is strange. Yuzvendra Chahal would be happy that he hasn’t returned to Bengaluru as there is no proper spinner with whom to partner," said Aakash Chopra.
Chahal was with the Rajasthan Royals in the previous season where the bowler played well throughout the tournament. PBKS also went all out for Shreyas Iyer in the mega auction. The franchise purchased the player for a massive amount of 26.75 crores. With this, Iyer became the second-costliest player in the auction. He is the captain candidate of the team and will be happy to take on the responsibility.
I haven't spoken to him yet: Ricky Ponting
Punjab Kings' new coach Ricky Ponting said that he hasn't spoken to Shreyas Iyer after the mega auction. There is no confirmation on Iyer being the captain yet since the franchise and the management haven't had any discussion on it yet. Since Iyer is a great player, the franchise went all out for the player in the mega auction of the IPL 2025.
"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," said PBKS coach Ricky Ponting.