IPL 2025: Shreyas Iyer announced as Punjab Kings captain by Salman Khan

On Sunday, January 12, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan officially announced that the star middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer will be leading the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025).

The official announcement regarding Shreyas Iyer taking over the leadership of Punjab Kings was made on the Bigg Boss 18 Weekend Ka Vaar where a couple of more Punjab Kings players were present.

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Shreyas Iyer lands at Bigg Boss 18 set along with Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh

Shreyas Iyer, along with star leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and explosive batsman Shashank Singh, joined Salman Khan for Bigg Boss 18 Weekend Ka Vaar, which was aired on January 12.

Bigg Boss is a popular Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show Big Brother. It is produced by Endemol Shine India, and currently, the eighteenth season of the show is going on, which is being hosted by Salman Khan for the fifteenth time.

Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Shashank Singh were seen having fun with Salman Khan on stage, and they also danced together to Bollywood tunes before it was officially announced that Iyer would be the new captain of Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League.

The trio of PBKS cricketers further entered the Bigg Boss house and a mini-cricket match was played between Team Shreyas and Team Yuzi. Iyer's team consisted of Rajat Dalal and Vivian Dsena while Karan Veer Mehra joined Shashank Singh in Yuzvendra Chahal's team.

Weekend Ka Vaar hoga aur bhi entertaining jab gharwale khelenge cricket match with players of Punjab Kings. 🏏

Dekhiye #BiggBoss18 Weekend Ka Vaar Shanivaar aur Ravivaar raat 9.30 baje @ColorsTV aur #JioCinema par. pic.twitter.com/ZY1e1RwxAL

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 12, 2025

Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Shashank Singh - key players of the Punjab Kings

Iyer, Chahal, and Shashank are the key players for PBKS, and the performance of the trio will determine how successful season the franchise will have in IPL 2025.

Ahead of the mega auction, the franchise retained explosive batter Shashank Singh for Rs 5.5 crore along with the young wicketkeeper-batsman Prabhsimran Singh for Rs 4 crore.

Over the years, PBKS have struggled to find a good captain and have been forced to make a lot of changes to the leadership group. This time around to fix this issue, they entered the auction with a clear mind to rope in a reputed captain and managed to buy Shreyas Iyer.

Iyer, who was released by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after leading them to the title victory in IPL 2024, was bought by Punjab Kings for a whopping INR 26.75 crore as they broke their bank for him.

PBKS also went all out for Yuzvendra Chahal at the auction and bought him for INR 18 crore, making him the most expensive spinner in the history of the league.

Punjab Kings looking to win IPL under Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting

The Punjab Kings have been one of the biggest underperformers in the history of the Indian Premier League. Since the inaugural edition of IPL, the Punjab-based franchise has experienced a mix of highs and lows, with their best performance coming in 2014 when they finished as the runners-up.

They have been highly inconsistent over the years, and frequent chopping and changes have only made things worse for them. However, with Ricky Ponting at the helm as head coach and Iyer as captain, PBKS would be hoping for a major turnaround and ending their trophy drought in IPL 2025.

Notably, they had entered the mega auction with the largest purse of Rs 110.5 crore and managed to make a balanced squad, roping in the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Nehal Wadhera and many others.