Punjab Kings have decided to retain only two players from their roster for the last edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season. They have retained two uncapped players - Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh - from the previous season. They are the only franchise to not retain a single capped player despite having the options of Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh among others.
PBKS will enter the mega auction for IPL 2025 with the highest-ever purse of Rs 110.5 crore having spent only 9.5 crore on the two retentions. Interestingly, the franchise has let go of Arshdeep who performed extremely well for them over the years. In fact, he is India's new-ball bowler in the shortest format of the game.
Having said that, Punjab have the maximum purse among all 10 teams in the mega auction and they will also have four RTM card options to use. Their head coach Ricky Ponting is happy with the current retentions stating that the franchise has invested in Prabhsimran while Shashank's performances in the last season impressed everyone.
"Prabhsimran is someone who we have invested in and have great hopes for. Shashank's skillsets are in high demand and after his breakthrough performances, it was difficult to ignore him. We will target bringing back some of our other players at the auction," Ponting said.
2 players retained: Shashank Singh (INR 5.5 crore), Prabhsimran Singh (INR 4 crore)
Purse remaining: INR 110.5 crore
RTM options at auction: 4
Players eligible for RTM: Four capped players
Players released: Arshdeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Jitesh Sharma, Atharva Taide, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Prince Choudhary, Tanay Thyagarajan, Ashutosh Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Chris Woakes, Rilee Rossouw
