Punjab Kings (PBKS) generated a record profit of Rs 252 crore ($29.6m) on a revenue base of Rs 664 crore ($78.1m), in 2024.
Whilst their revenue grew by a staggering 141 per cent, their profits skyrocketed by nearly 5.5 times.
That made them the most profitable franchise in the IPL, with CSK at a distant second at Rs 229 crore ($26.9m) and RCB registering Rs 221 crore ($26m).
Revenue-wise, they ended sixth on the table, but their leadership and management team clearly knew how best to maximise yields.
They and their fans would wish that they can replicate the same on the field this year, given how lacklustre their 17-year IPL journey has been.
They are one of the four current franchises who haven’t won the tournament till date. They came very close to lifting the trophy in 2014, when they were defending a solid 199 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Chinnaswamy stadium. But a
Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan’s efforts secured a victory for KKR.
In 2008, when they started their journey under the moniker Kings XI Punjab, they had a decent outing till the semi-finals, where they fell terribly short thanks to some inspiring bowling from the CSK, the eventual runner-up.
Barring these two anomalies, they have always lingered in the bottom half of the table and have never made it to the playoffs.
Their average win percentage in matches remains a poor 44.75%, with their best season being 2014 when they won 12 out of their 17 matches and their poorest appearance was in the very next season, when they lost 11 of the 14 games.
Neither Preity Zinta’s cheerful support nor the presence of a Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, Adam Gilchrist, Shikhar Dhawan, Shaun Marsh, Yezvendra Chahal, Glenn Maxwell, Sandeep Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Hashim Amla, Mahela Jayawardene, David Miller or a Ravichandran Ashwin had been able to weave the requisite magic.
One remembers a few brilliant sparks such as Paul Valthaty’s magic 120 off 63 deliveries in Mohali that helped his team go past CSK’s 188 with six wickets and five balls to spare. It remains the highest individual IPL score at that stadium till date.
KL Rahul’s four consecutive top-scoring seasons for the franchise between 2018-2021, which ensured that he is still holds the record of the most runs scored by a player for the franchise, as well as the most number of centuries, half-centuries and the highest career average for the Punjab unit.
His fluent 132 not out against RCB in September 2020 in Dubai, till date the highest individual score for PBKS, ushered in some momentary relief during the tough Covid-19 times, and helped PBKS record a confidence-inducing 97 run win.
Sam Curran’s 4 for 11, when he cleaned the Delhi Capital’s lower order in Mohali in 2019 that resulted in a 14-run win remains a memorable highlight and so does Lakshmipathy Balaji’s 4 for 13 against SRH in Sharjah in 2015, when he dismissed all the four foreign players in the team.
But Ankit Rajpoot’s 5 for 14, the best individual bowling figures for PBKS, perhaps represents the franchise’s overall fate in the IPL. In this league match in 2018, the opening medium pace bowler knocked over the likes of Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey and Mohammad Nabi, and SRH folded just for 132 and this gave them a platform to register a clinical win to boost their net run rate. But the Rashid Khan and Shakib Al Hasan’s spin wove a trap that PBKS couldn’t emerge out of and the visitors lost by 13 runs.
In the year they recorded the highest profits as a franchise, PBKS ended up ninth in the points table, winning just five of their allotted 14 games. Their rebranding from Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings in 2021 to “start afresh” had paid no dividends over next the three years.
They had experimented with 16 captains across 17 seasons but nothing seemed to have clicked till date but is that likely to change in 2025 with their massive bet on Shreyas Iyer, the captain who won KKR their third IPL title, after a gap of a decade?
Today, PBKS, the venture is valued over a $1 billion and the value has soared at a CAGR of over 70 per cent per annum. A huge part of that growth is attributed to the soaring media rights, rising fan engagement of their cumulated 16 million followers across social media, commercial partnerships with 21 brand partners as well as strategic revenue diversification with investments in other franchises such as the Saint Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Incidentally, Saint Lucia Kings won their maiden CPL title in 2024 after beating Guyana Amazon Warriors. They had previously ended up as runner-up in 2021, a year after PBKS bought over the franchise, to become only the third IPL franchise (after KKR and RR) to own a team in the CPL.
Is the bigger balance sheet and larger profit pools changing the cricketing fortunes of the Punjab franchise?
Their leadership has leveraged its financial capital and business acumen at last year’s mega auction in Saudi Arabia, the sixth such opportunity for IPL franchises to acquire and trade talent.
They retained only two players, the lowest across all teams and thereafter went on a buying spree, acquiring 23 players at the auction table.
They nabbed Iyer, for a staggering Rs 26.75 crore ($3.14M), the second highest price tag at the auction after Rishabh Pant.
Beyond Iyer, the franchise’s batting prowess is primarily architected around uncapped Indian talents such as Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Priyansh Arya and Musheer Khan. Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Marco Jansen were acquired to add firepower in the middle-order and are expected to deliver the goods with the ball as well.
To strengthen their bowling attack, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson and Chahal are three special international grade assets whilst Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar, Kuldeep Sen and Vijaykumar Vyshak will need to prove their worth at this level.
One may question their investment strategy wherein 67 per cent of their purse was spent on acquiring their top four assets, but their approach is centred around having a captain, who has not just won the previous IPL but has been an active contributor to his team’s success, be it KKR or Mumbai or Team India.
The franchise has backed Iyer with high impact, utilitarian players, be it overseas champions or uncapped domestic heroes and this strategy is already paying dividends.
Dhoni delivers a vintage finish, reminding fans why he’s still the heart of the IPL. In a game that had 22 players, there was only one hero.@BoriaMajumdar writes #IPL2025 #LSGvCSK #MSDhoni https://t.co/ndiIRcpDK6
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) April 14, 2025
In IPL 2025, PBKS have won three of their first five matches and if not for three missed chances against Abhishek Sharma on the field on Saturday, they were very likely to win the match against SRH after posting 245 on the board.
Their batting unit is on fire with the team scoring more than 200 on four out of their five outings; skipper Iyer is the fourth highest run-scorer in the tournament thus far. Prabhsimran and Nehal contributed brilliantly in their win against LSG. Arya has played a couple of scintillating knocks, including scoring the joint-fourth fastest IPL century. Shashank has already demonstrated his potential once again with two blazing cameos. Stoinis and Jansen have joined the party with the bat as well.
Whilst none of their bowlers are in the top ten list of wicket takers yet, Arshdeep, Fergusson and Maxwell are off to a good start. But they will expect Stoinis, Yash Thakur and especially Chahal to deliver often, if they must continue their good run and win consistently, especially the close games.
In 2008, three industrialists, Mohit Burman (Dabur), Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing) and Karan Paul (Apeejay Group) had joined hands with Bollywood celebrity, Preity Zinta, to acquire the Kings XI Punjab franchise at $76m, the third lowest price tag after Rajasthan Royals ($67m) and KKR ($75.09m).
17 years later, the franchise has thrived commercially, is expanding its wings across ventures, has made some big and bold bets on the field to achieve that one elusive goal of lifting the IPL trophy.
Can Iyer and his men convert this commercial success onto on-field return on investment by converting their potential to consistent performances?
Can the most profitable IPL franchise give their owner and cheerleader extraordinaire, Preity Zinta, the opportunity to celebrate on the podium?