Courtesy: PBKS/IPL
The cricketing world is looking forward to the IPL 2025 mega auction which is scheduled to take place on November 24 and 25, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As far as PBKS (Punjab Kings) are concerned, the focus will be on which five players the franchise will eye for the upcoming season. The franchise have set aside a whopping INR 110.5 Crore purse after keeping just two players in the squad from the previous season.
Ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, the franchise has retained two players- Shashank Singh (INR 5.5 Crore) and Prabhsimran Singh (INR 4 Crore) – both uncapped. They will have the opportunity to use four Right-To-Match (RTM) cards, which they might use to bring back key players if other clubs purchase them.
In this article, SportsTiger lists five key players PBKS will have an eye on in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Steve Smith
Since Ricky Ponting has joined as the head coach of the Punjab team, he would certainly try to bring in Steve Smith, who he knowns all too well about from their time in Australian cricket. The right-handed batter was last seen in IPL 2021 under Ricky Ponting at Delhi Capitals. After his good performances in T20 circuit recently, there is a high chance of Smith coming back to the IPL in the next season. Moreover, Smith carries captaincy experience which the Punjab will be looking to bring in. Steve Smith and Ricky Ponting recently collaborated on the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024. Their collaboration at MLC Washington Freedom ended on a high note with a title win. The Australian pair will try to duplicate their MLC triumph with the Washington Freedom in the IPL if PBKS is successful in singing Smith.
