# 2021 Punjab Kings season

The 2021 season was the 14th season for the Indian Premier League franchise Punjab Kings. They were one of the eight teams competed in the 2021 Indian Premier League. After winning only 6 matches out of 14 matches, they finished sixth in the tournament.

## Background
### Player retention and transfers

The Punjab Kings retained 16 players and released nine players.
Retained Players: KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami, Murugan Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh, Rahul Chahar
Released Players: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, Mujeeb Zadran, Hardus Viljoen, James Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Karun Nair, Jagadeesha Suchith, Tajinder Singh Dhillon
Added Players: Dawid Malan, Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Moises Henriques, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar

## Squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Salary | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||||
| 333 | Chris Gayle | Jamaica | (1979-09-21) 21 September 1979 (age 45) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹2 crore (US$240,000) | Overseas; Pulled out due to Bubble Fatigue |
| 99 | Dawid Malan | England | (1987-09-03) 3 September 1987 (age 37) | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2021 | ₹1.5 crore (US$180,000) | Overseas; Pulled out due to Bubble Fatigue |
| 44 | Aiden Markram | South Africa | (1994-10-04) 4 October 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | ₹1.5 crore (US$180,000) | Overseas; Replacement for Dawid Malan |
| 16 | Mayank Agarwal | India | (1991-02-16) 16 February 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹1 crore (US$120,000) | Vice Captain |
| 18 | Mandeep Singh | India | (1991-12-18) 18 December 1991 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2019 | ₹1.4 crore (US$170,000) | |
| 97 | Sarfaraz Khan | India | (1997-10-27) 27 October 1997 (age 26) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2019 | ₹25 lakh (US$30,000) | |
| All-rounders |||||||||
| 6 | Jalaj Saxena | India | (1986-12-15) 15 December 1986 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | ₹30 lakh (US$36,000) | |
| 21 | Moises Henriques | Australia | (1987-02-01) 1 February 1987 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2021 | ₹4.2 crore (US$500,000) | Overseas |
| 8 | Saurabh Kumar | India | (1993-05-01) 1 May 1993 (age 31) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 57 | Deepak Hooda | India | (1995-04-19) 19 April 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2020 | ₹50 lakh (US$60,000) | |
| 38 | Fabian Allen | Jamaica | (1995-05-07) 7 May 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2021 | ₹75 lakh (US$90,000) | Overseas |
| 35 | Shahrukh Khan | India | (1995-05-27) 27 May 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | ₹5.25 crore (US$630,000) | |
| 95 | Harpreet Brar | India | (1995-09-16) 16 September 1995 (age 29) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2019 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 60 | Jhye Richardson | Australia | (1996-09-20) 20 September 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2021 | ₹14 crore (US$1.7 million) | Overseas; Pulled out due to Bubble Fatigue |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||||
| 1 | K. L. Rahul | India | (1992-04-18) 18 April 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | ₹11 crore (US$1.3 million) | Captain |
| 29 | Nicholas Pooran | Trinidad and Tobago | (1995-10-02) 2 October 1995 (age 29) | Left-handed | — | 2019 | ₹4.2 crore (US$500,000) | Overseas |
| 84 | Prabhsimran Singh | India | (2000-08-10) 10 August 2000 (age 24) | Right-handed | — | 2020 | ₹55 lakh (US$66,000) | |
| Bowlers |||||||||
| 89 | Murugan Ashwin | India | (1990-09-08) 8 September 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2019 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 56 | Ravi Bishnoi | India | (2000-09-05) 5 September 2000 (age 24) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2020 | ₹2 crore (US$240,000) | |
| 34 | Chris Jordan | England | (1988-10-04) 4 October 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2020 | ₹3 crore (US$359,456.70) | Overseas |
| 11 | Mohammed Shami | India | (1990-09-03) 3 September 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2019 | ₹4.8 crore (US$580,000) | |
| 72 | Nathan Ellis | Australia | (1994-12-22) 22 December 1994 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | Overseas; Replacement for Riley Meredith |
| 12 | Riley Meredith | Australia | (1996-06-21) 21 June 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2021 | ₹8 crore (US$960,000) | Overseas; Pulled out due to Bubble Fatigue |
| 55 | Ishan Porel | India | (1998-09-05) 5 September 1998 (age 26) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2020 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 4 | Darshan Nalkande | India | (1998-10-04) 4 October 1998 (age 26) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2019 | ₹3 crore (US$360,000) | |
| 2 | Arshdeep Singh | India | (1999-02-05) 5 February 1999 (age 25) | Left-handed | Left-arm medium-fast | 2019 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 88 | Adil Rashid | England | (1988-03-17) 17 March 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2021 | ₹1.5 crore (US$180,000) | Overseas; Replacement for Jhye Richardson |
| Source:PBKS Players |||||||||

## Administration and support staff

| Position | Name |
| Owners | Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Priety Zinta, Karan Paul |
| CEO | Satish Menon |
| Team manager | Avinash Vaidya |
| Director of cricket operations and head coach | Anil Kumble |
| Assistant coaches | Andy Flower Bharat Arun |
| Batting coach | Wasim Jaffer |
| Bowling coach | Damien Wright |
| Fielding coach | Jonty Rhodes |
| Team physio | Andrew Leipus |
| Trainer | Adrian Le Roux |
| Team doctor | Dr Srinand Srinivas |
| Source:PBKS Staff ||

## Teams and standings
### Results by match

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Result | W | L | L | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | L | W |
| Position | 3 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | |
| 1 | Delhi Capitals (3rd) | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0.481 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 2 | Chennai Super Kings (C) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.455 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 3 | Royal Challengers Bangalore (4th) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | −0.140 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 4 | Kolkata Knight Riders (R) | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.587 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 5 | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.116 | |
| 6 | Punjab Kings | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | −0.001 | |
| 7 | Rajasthan Royals | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 10 | −0.993 | |
| 8 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 6 | −0.545 | |

## League stage

The full schedule was published on the IPL website on 7 March 2021.

### Matches

* Match 4 12 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 221/6 (20 overs) | v | Rajasthan Royals 217/7 (20 overs) |
| KL Rahul 91 (50) Chetan Sakariya 3/31 (4 overs) | | Sanju Samson 119 (63) Arshdeep Singh 3/35 (4 overs) |
* Punjab Kings won by 4 runs Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Sundaram Ravi (Ind) Player of the match: Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals)
* Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 8 16 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 106/8 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 107/4 (15.4 overs) |
| Shahrukh Khan 47 (36) Deepak Chahar 4/13 (4 overs) | | Moeen Ali 46 (31) Mohammed Shami 2/21 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Anil Dandekar (Ind) Player of the match: Deepak Chahar (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 11 18 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 195/4 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 198/4 (18.2 overs) |
| Mayank Agarwal 69 (36) Lukman Meriwala 1/32 (3 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 92 (49) Jhye Richardson 2/41 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 6 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Paul Reiffel (Aus) Player of the match: Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 14 21 April 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 120 (19.4 overs) | v | Sunrisers Hyderabad 121/1 (18.4 overs) |
| Shahrukh Khan 22 (17) Khaleel Ahmed 3/21 (4 overs) | | Jonny Bairstow 63* (56) Fabian Allen 1/22 (4 overs) |
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 9 wickets M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: Nitin Menon (Ind) and Krishnamachari Srinivasan (Ind) Player of the match: Jonny Bairstow (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
* Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 17 23 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Mumbai Indians 131/6 (20 overs) | v | Punjab Kings 132/1 (17.4 overs) |
| Rohit Sharma 63 (52) Ravi Bishnoi 2/21 (4 overs) Mohammed Shami 2/21 (4 overs) | | KL Rahul 60* (52) Rahul Chahar 1/19 (4 overs) |
* Punjab Kings won by 9 wickets M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: Nitin Menon (Ind) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (Ind) Player of the match: KL Rahul (Punjab Kings)
* Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 21 26 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 123/9 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 126/5 (16.4 overs) |
| Mayank Agarwal 31 (34) Prasidh Krishna 3/30 (4 overs) | | Eoin Morgan 47* (40) Moises Henriques 1/5 (1 over) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won 5 wickets Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (Ind) and Paul Reiffel (Aus) Player of the match: Eoin Morgan (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 26 30 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 179/5 (20 overs) | v | Royal Challengers Bangalore 145/8 (20 overs) |
| KL Rahul 91* (57) Kyle Jamieson 2/32 (3 overs) | | Virat Kohli 35 (34) Harpreet Brar 3/19 (4 overs) |
* Punjab Kings won by 34 runs Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Sundaram Ravi (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Harpreet Brar (Punjab Kings)
* Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 29 2 May 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 166/6 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 167/3 (17.4 overs) |
| Mayank Agarwal 99* (58) Kagiso Rabada 3/36 (4 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 69* (47) Harpreet Brar 1/19 (3 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 7 wickets Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Anil Dandekar (Ind) Player of the match: Mayank Agarwal (Punjab Kings)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 33 22 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Sunrisers Hyderabad 134/9 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 139/2 (17.5 overs) |
| Abdul Samad 28 (21) Kagiso Rabada 3/37 (4 overs) | | Shreyas Iyer 47* (41) Rashid Khan 1/26 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 8 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Richard Illingworth (Eng) Player of the match: Anrich Nortje (Delhi Capitals)
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 37 25 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 125/7 (20 overs) | v | Sunrisers Hyderabad 120/7 (20 overs) |
| Aiden Markram 27 (32) Jason Holder 3/19 (4 overs) | | Jason Holder 47* (29) Ravi Bishnoi 3/24 (4 overs) |
* Punjab Kings won by 5 runs Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (Ind) and Richard Illingworth (Eng) Player of the match: Jason Holder (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 42 28 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 135/6 (20 overs) | v | Mumbai Indians 137/4 (19 overs) |
| Aiden Markram 42 (29) Kieron Pollard 2/8 (1 over) | | Saurabh Tiwary 45 (37) Ravi Bishnoi 2/25 (4 overs) |
* Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Sundaram Ravi (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians)
* Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 45 1 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Kolkata Knight Riders 165/7 (20 overs) | v | Punjab Kings 168/5 (19.3 overs) |
| Venkatesh Iyer 67 (49) Arshdeep Singh 3/32 (4 overs) | | KL Rahul 67 (55) Varun Chakravarthy 2/24 (4 overs) |
* Punjab Kings won by 5 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Richard Illingworth (Eng) Player of the match: KL Rahul (Punjab Kings)
* Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Delhi Capitals qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.
* Match 48 3 October 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Royal Challengers Bangalore 164/7 (20 overs) | v | Punjab Kings 158/6 (20 overs) |
| Glenn Maxwell 57 (33) Moises Henriques 3/12 (4 overs) | | Mayank Agarwal 57 (42) Yuzvendra Chahal 3/29 (4 overs) |
* Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 6 runs Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Richard Illingworth (Eng) Player of the match: Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
* Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bat.
* Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.
* Match 53 7 October 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 134/6 (20 overs) | v | Punjab Kings 139/4 (13 overs) |
| Faf du Plessis 76 (55) Chris Jordan 2/20 (3 overs) | | KL Rahul 98* (42) Shardul Thakur 3/28 (3 overs) |
* Punjab Kings won by 6 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Krishnamachari Srinivasan (Ind) Player of the match: KL Rahul (Punjab Kings)
* Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Delhi Capitals advanced to Qualifier 1 as a result of this match.

## Statistics
### Most runs

| No. | Name | Match | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave. | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 0 | 4s | 6s |
| 1 | KL Rahul | 13 | 13 | 2 | 626 | 98* | 62.60 | 276 | 178.34 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 48 | 30 |
| 2 | Mayank Agarwal | 12 | 12 | 1 | 441 | 99* | 40.09 | 227 | 140.44 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 42 | 18 |
| 3 | Chris Gayle | 8 | 8 | 1 | 178 | 46 | 25.42 | 133 | 133.83 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 8 |
| 4 | Deepak Hooda | 9 | 8 | 1 | 116 | 64 | 16.57 | 83 | 139.75 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | Shahrukh Khan | 8 | 7 | 2 | 107 | 47 | 21.40 | 84 | 127.38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| 6 | Nicholas Pooran | 8 | 7 | 0 | 60 | 32 | 8.57 | 55 | 109.09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

### Most wickets

| No. | Name | Match | Inns | Overs | Runs | Maidens | Wickets | BBI | Ave. | Econ. | SR | 4W | 5W |
| 1 | Mohammad Shami | 14 | 14 | 22.2 | 0 | 182 | 19 | 5/32 | 15.16 | 8.14 | 11.16 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Arshdeep Singh | 9 | 9 | 32.4 | 0 | 255 | 18 | 3/21 | 23.18 | 7.80 | 17.81 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Harpreet Brar | 3 | 3 | 10.0 | 1 | 55 | 5 | 3/19 | 24.2 | 5.50 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Ravi Bishnoi | 4 | 4 | 16.0 | 0 | 99 | 4 | 2/17 | 24.75 | 6.18 | 24.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Riley Meredith | 5 | 5 | 17.0 | 0 | 169 | 4 | 1/29 | 42.25 | 9.94 | 25.5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Jhye Richardson | 3 | 3 | 11.0 | 0 | 117 | 3 | 2/41 | 39.00 | 10.63 | 22.0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

## Player of the match awards

| No. | Date | Player | Opponent | Result | Contribution |
| 1 | 23 April 2021 | KL Rahul | Mumbai Indians | Won by 9 wickets | 60* (52) |
| 2 | 30 April 2021 | Harpreet Brar | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Won by 34 runs | 25* (17) and 3/19 (4 overs) |
| 3 | 2 May 2021 | Mayank Agarwal | Delhi Capitals | Lost by 7 wickets | 99* (58) |
| 4 | 1 October 2021 | KL Rahul | Kolkata Knight Riders | Won by 5 wickets | 67 (55) |
| 5 | 7 October 2021 | KL Rahul | Chennai Super Kings | Won by 6 wickets | 98* (42) and 2 catches |