The owners of Punjab Kings should focus on ensuring the continued services of such players who represent the soul of Punjab.
Editorial: IPL, Joy for Virat, sorrow for Punjab Kings
The result of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final brought both disappointment and satisfaction to Punjabi sports lovers. Disappointment because the dream of Punjab Kings becoming IPL champions could not be fulfilled. Satisfaction because the hopes and expectations of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star Virat Kohli to finally kiss the IPL trophy were fulfilled in the 18th year. Virat is equally loved by the entire Punjabi community as are the Punjabi stars of Punjab Kings. In fact, in the sports world, he is considered a true embodiment of Punjabi temperament and spirit.
Fighter, rugged, brave, daredevil, outspoken, one who gives a stone in return for a brick, a friend to friends and an enemy to enemies, but generous even to distressed enemies – all these adjectives perfectly suit him. In tournaments like IPL, money has always been the priority. Loyalty is considered a business weakness. But Virat never changed his loyalty towards his club (RCB) in this most expensive and highest-earning league. He has been a member of this team for 18 years. In IPL, perhaps the only other example like him is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He too has stayed loyal to Chennai Super Kings for 18 years.
The difference between the two remained that Dhoni’s team has become IPL champions five times. That is why Virat was mocked that despite being a superstar of Indian cricket, he could never make RCB the IPL champion even once. Now that this mission is complete (as per his own words), he can sleep peacefully like a little child. He truly deserves this luxury now. Punjab Kings made it to the IPL final after 11 years. Many cricket experts were predicting RCB to win this final. Punjab Kings' captain Shreyas Iyer was under pressure to repeat his semifinal performance.
In that match, it was mainly Iyer who contributed to defeating a team like Mumbai Indians full of superstars. With an unbeaten 81-run innings, he nullified all the tricks of Mumbai’s bowlers. But in cricket, magic doesn’t work every time. Shreyas couldn’t repeat the magic against Bangalore. Even then, Punjab's defeat cannot be called disgraceful. The defeat was limited to just 6 runs. Until the 15th over, it seemed Bangalore’s victory margin would be big, but Shashank Singh’s sixes greatly reduced that margin. In other words, it can also be said that if he had gotten one or two more balls, perhaps the match result could have gone in Punjab Kings’ favor.
The unique feature of the playing styles of both final teams was that instead of gathering international superstars, both showed more trust in Indian players, especially youngsters. That trust paid off. Indian youngsters did not care about the fame of foreign stars and did not let the opportunity to showcase their talent go in vain. Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Nihal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar are those players from Punjab Kings whose talent will be valued in crores during the 2026 IPL auction. Arshdeep is already being considered a contender for fame like Jasprit Bumrah.
Hence, the owners of Punjab Kings should focus on ensuring the continued services of such players who represent the soul of Punjab. In the past years, the Kings' owners had been spending heavily to buy international superstars, but the 2025 experience showed that local players can prove to be more useful assets for Indian weather and pitches. This lesson is equally apt for RCB. The captain of that team, Rajat Patidar, was considered the most ‘lightweight’ captain. When a lightweight or inexperienced captain makes the impossible possible, then what else can be more pointless than spending rupees 25 crore each on foreign superstars?
