Punjab Kings (PBKS), fresh off a runners-up finish in IPL 2025, adopted a low-key approach at the IPL 2026 mini-auction held at the Etihad Arena on December 16.
Entering with a modest purse of ₹11.50 crore and only four slots to fill after retaining 21 players, the franchise made just four targeted purchases, spending approximately ₹8 crore and leaving ₹3.50 crore unutilized. Captain Shreyas Iyer, present at the auction table, emphasized the team's satisfaction with their settled core. "We had several meetings and feel quite relaxed with our planning," Iyer said.
Punjab Kings IPL 2026 Auction Buys
In the auction, PBKS remained mostly quiet and got their slots filled up. Cooper Connolly and Ben Dwarshuis were their foreigners, while they added two uncapped Indian players as well.
Ben Dwarshuis (₹4.40 crore), Cooper Connolly (₹3 crore), Pravin Dubey (₹30 lakh), Vishal Nishad (₹30 lakh)
Punjab Kings IPL 2026 Squad
Shreyas Iyer (C), Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Priyansh Arya, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Owen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Vishnu Vinod, Harnoor Pannu, Pyla Avinash, Vishal Nishad, Pravin Dubey, Ben Dwarshuis, Cooper Connolly
Punjab Kings Best Playing 11 for IPL 2026
Despite the new signing, the Kings have a settled core which is likely to feature for them next year as well. The two Australian players can come in as replacements in the side, while the uncapped Indian players are mostly going to be backups for them.
Shreyas Iyer will lead the side while Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh are set to be their openers. In terms of their four foreigners, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen are the certainties, while they may go with Lockie Ferguson and Mitchell Owen as the two others. The bowling will be spearheaded by the Indian duo Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have paramount roles to play for their team.
PBKS Best Lineup
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Mitchell Owen, Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson/Ben Dwarshuis, Yuzvendra Chahal
