On Sunday, January 12, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan officially announced that star middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer will lead the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025).
The official announcement of Shreyas Iyer taking over the leadership of Punjab Kings was made at the weekend of Bigg Boss 18 Ka Vaar, where a couple of more Punjab Kings players were present.
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Shreyas Iyer lands on the sets of Bigg Boss 18 along with Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh
Shreyas Iyer, along with star Yuzvendra Chahal and explosive batsman Shashank Singh, joined Salman Khan for Bigg Boss 18 Weekend Ka Vaar, which aired on January 12.
Bigg Boss is a popular Indian reality TV franchise based on the Dutch reality show Big Brother. It is produced by Endemol Shine India and the show’s eighteenth season, hosted by Salman Khan for the fifteenth time, is currently underway.
Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh were seen having fun with Salman Khan on stage and 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 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.
The Ka Vaar weekend will be even more entertaining when Gharwale plays a cricket match with Punjab Kings players.
View #BiggBoss18 Saturday and Sunday of the weekend at 9:30 p.m. @ColorsTV gold #JioCinema pair. pic.twitter.com/ZY1e1RwxAL
-JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 12, 2025
Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh: Key players of Punjab Kings
Iyer, Chahal and Shashank are the key players of PBKS and the performance of the trio will determine the success of the franchise’s IPL 2025 season.
Before the mega auction, the franchise signed explosive batsman Shashank Singh for Rs 5.5 crore along with young batsman Prabhsimran Singh for Rs 4 crore.
Over the years, PBKS has struggled to find a good captain and has been forced to make many changes to the leadership group. This time, to solve this problem, they entered the auction with a clear mind of signing a renowned captain and managed to buy Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer, who was released by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after leading them to title victory in IPL 2024, was bought by Punjab Kings for a whopping INR 26.75 crore when they broke their bank for him.
PBKS also went all out for Yuzvendra Chahal in the auction and bought him for INR 18 crore, making him the most expensive spinner in the history of the league.
Punjab Kings look to win IPL with Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting
The Punjab Kings have had one of the worst results in the history of the Indian Premier League. Since the inaugural edition of the IPL, the Punjab-based franchise has seen a mix of ups and downs, with their best performance coming in 2014 when they finished second.
They have been very inconsistent over the years, and the frequent cuts 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 hope for a major turnaround and end 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 form a balanced team, bringing in the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Nehal Wadhera and many others.
