Renamed the Punjab Kings (PBKS) from Kings XI Punjab, the franchise has been part of IPL since its inception. Bought by the likes of Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, and Karan Paul for ₹304 crore, Punjab has yet to win the trophy even once, giving below-par performances in recent times.
Punjab finished in the last four in the inaugural season but struggled to get going in the subsequent years, finishing fifth and eighth in 2009 and 2010, respectively. They were also on the verge of getting banned for the alleged transgression of shareholding and ownership. However, the franchise went to court and got themselves out of this mess.
Nonetheless, for this reason, there was massive uncertainty in the camp ahead of the 2011 auction, and the franchise revealed Michael Bevan as their head coach just four days ahead of the mega event. None of the players were retained, and Punjab failed to build a solid core and paid the price for the next three years.
It was in 2014 that their best performance in recent years came when, under George Bailey, the team reached the finals. However, despite such an outstanding season, their inconsistent self was back, as they won just three games in the next season, and the string of poor performances continued for the next five years.
By 2021, they had built a batting-heavy team but did little to improve their fortunes, with the team finishing sixth and eighth in 2022 and 2023, respectively. It paints a bleak picture of the franchise that they haven’t qualified for playoffs nine straight seasons.