After years of heartbreak, Punjab Kings finally find themselves within touching distance of a top-two finish in the league phase of IPL 2025 for the first time since their dream run in 2014, and with a full-strength squad at their disposal, the Shreyas Iyer-led side will back themselves to get the job done against Delhi Capitals in their penultimate league clash in Jaipur on Saturday.

Barring their runners-up finish 11 seasons ago, PBKS have rarely made it to the top-four in the tournament’s history. However, this year, under Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting, the team has witnessed a massive transformation as one of the most consistent sides, collecting 17 points from 12 matches besides securing a playoff berth with two games to spare.

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Bolstered by the return of the overseas quartet — Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, and Kyle Jamieson — after they had temporarily returned home during the week-long suspension of the league due to cross-border conflict between India and Pakistan, which also resulted in the abandonment of PBKS’s home match against Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala after just 10.1 overs on May 8.

Now reunited in Jaipur, the team appears a confident bunch of players, hungry for the crown that has eluded the team so far.

Having led the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the title last season, Iyer, who became the only captain to lead three IPL franchises to the playoffs, has been instrumental in Punjab’s resurgence this year. The prolific right-hander has led from the front with the bat, notching up 435 runs in 12 matches, second only to the league’s top scorer, and continues to provide the backbone of the batting order.

But it’s not just Iyer carrying the team. Opener Prabhsimran Singh (458 runs) and his partner Priyansh Arya (356 runs) have fired at the top, while Arshdeep Singh (11 wickets) and Yuzvendra Chahal (13 wickets) have led a disciplined bowling attack that has delivered under pressure.

For Delhi Capitals, this has been yet another season of missed opportunities. Despite starting the tournament with four straight wins, and appearing as strong title contenders, the Axar Patel-led side has failed to consistently put up performances that could have led them to the playoffs.

There are several factors that led to Delhi’s inconsistent run, and the most important of all has been their lack of aggressive intent in the powerplay and the late-season unavailability of Mitchell Starc have hampered their cause.

Earlier this week, Delhi’s playoff hopes officially ended after suffering a heavy defeat to Mumbai Indians and thus they’ll look to salvage some pride in their final IPL 2025 outing.

Squads:

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

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (c), Mustafizur Rahman, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Darshan Nalkande, Tripurana Vijay, Dushmantha Chameera, Faf du Plessis, T Natarajan, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvanth Kumar L, Madhav Tiwari.