Punjab Kings Believed In Prabhsimran — Now He’s One Of The Best Openers In IPL

On May 8, 2025, Prabhsimran Singh created Punjab Kings history, becoming the first ever player from the franchise to score four consecutive fifties in the IPL.

The very same day, Prabhsimran was also primed to breach the 500-run barrier for the first time in his career and claim the Orange Cap, as he found himself on 487 runs — 24 away from the Orange Cap — with still 9.5 overs remaining in Punjab’s innings. 

Fast forward to May 19, 2025, Prabhsimran is no longer a Punjab Kings history maker. He isn’t close to the Orange Cap either, with the top-placed Sai Sudharsan 159 runs ahead of him. The complete voiding of the PBKS-DC clash at Dharamshala means that several special moments have been rather unfairly snatched away from Prabhsimran. 

But here’s the thing: you can take away the numbers, but not the progress. It’s been a long, long time coming, but Prabhsimran is finally turning into the player he always promised to be.

When it comes to teams investing in young players, arguably no franchise has patiently invested in any talent as much as Punjab Kings have in Prabhsimran. 

The explosive opener was 18 when he donned the PBKS jersey for the first time ever, back in 2019. And in every season since, Punjab have found a way to keep the youngster in the set-up. 

The competition in IPL is cut-throat, which is why franchises tend to easily give up on young players if they don’t see immediate returns, even if the players in question are supremely talented. 

But Punjab kept Prabhsimran in the set-up even after he played just 6 matches and averaged 10.67 across his first four seasons. Several franchises might have parted ways with the young batter after he dazzled and frustrated in equal parts across IPL 2023 & IPL 2024, but PBKS doubled down by retaining Prabhsimran ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. 

And come IPL 2025, Prabhsimran has repaid the faith and how. 

61 games into IPL 2025, as Punjab have made it to the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, Prabhsimran has 458 runs — the highest among all PBKS players in the season. 

It is already the best-ever campaign by any Punjab Kings Indian opener not named KL Rahul, and the 24-year-old is well and truly on course to better Chris Gayle’s best-ever season for the franchise and potentially match Shaun Marsh’s ludicrous run tally in 2008. 

With Prabhsimran, just like it was with Abhishek Sharma, it was always a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. 

Like Abhishek, he was destined to hit the ‘next level’ at some stage, for he was ludicrously dominant at the domestic level, aside from being remarkably talented. It was for a good reason that we had predicted Prabhsimran to have a breakthrough campaign this year. 

A combination of role clarity, levelling up as a batter, and a coach who well and truly believes in his potential seems to have spurred Prabhsimran on to unlock that ‘next level’ he always had in his locker. The final factor is pertinent, as even before the season began, head coach Ricky Ponting made it clear that he rates the youngster extremely highly. 

“Prabhsimran Singh is someone I’ve got really high expectations for this year. I’ve told him that already. Talent-wise, I think he’s as good as anybody in the tournament,” Ponting had said before the tournament. 

It’s fair to say that Prabhsimran has thus far justified the hype. 

More consistency, more impact: How Prabh has levelled up in IPL 2025

Across IPL 2023 and IPL 2024, two seasons where he racked up over 300 runs, Prabhsimran established himself as a powerplay basher. He went at 150.7 in the 1-6 phase across these two seasons, one among four Indians (Abhishek, Jaiswal, Kishan and Prahsimran) to score over 300 powerplay runs at a SR over 150.

Cut to IPL 2025, Prabhsimran has turned into an even more 'aggressive' powerplay basher. With 280 runs, he’s the third-highest run getter in the powerplay in this edition. Among batters with 250+ runs in the powerplay, his strike rate of 166.7 is bettered by only two other batters — Priyansh Arya, his opening partner, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. 

Yet it’s what Prabhsimran’s done outside the powerplay that’s propelled him to the next level and made this campaign different from all the previous years. 

Across both IPL 2023 and IPL 2024, there were two major factors that deterred Prabhsimran: his inability to bat deep and be consistent. 

In 28 innings across IPL 2023 and IPL 2024, the right-hander batted beyond the 10th over just four times. And he registered just nine 30+ scores, which comes up to about 32%. In fact, across IPL 2023 & IPL 2024, Prabhsimran posted back-to-back 30+ scores in the competition JUST ONCE.

12 innings into IPL 2025, the 24-year-old has already racked up seven scores over 30. What’s more, before the tournament got temporarily suspended, he went on a stretch that read 33, 83, 54, 91 & 50*, showcasing never-seen-before consistency. 

And in terms of taking the game deep, he’s already batted beyond the 10th over four times in 12 innings, which is the same as the previous two seasons combined. In fact, if you count the voided match against DC, this figure comes up to five. 

It isn’t just that Prabhsimran is taking the game deep; he’s creating a serious impact while doing so. 

So far in IPL 2025, the 24-year-old has been striking at 179.8 outside the powerplay (overs 7-20).  It is the second-best among openers who have racked up over 150 runs outside the powerplay so far this season. 

It is no surprise that Punjab have won every match this season in which Prabhsimran has batted beyond the seventh over. 

Improved range vs pace: the ultimate game-changer

The single-biggest contributor to Prabhsimran’s elevation has been his improved range against pace bowling. 

For the longest time, the 24-year-old was a leg-side dominant opener whose range through the off-side was pretty limited. 

Across IPL 2023 & IPL 2024, only 45% of his runs against the quicks came through the off-side, with the deep square-leg region on the on-side being his most productive area. This meant that teams were able to contain Prabhsimran by keeping the ball wide, away from his hitting arc. 

In contrast, so far in IPL 2025, a whopping 63% of Prabhsimran’s runs have come through the off-side. He’s unlocked new scoring areas, and so, unlike previous seasons, teams simply haven’t been able to contain him. 

From the graphic above, we can see that about 21% of Prabhsimran’s runs against pace in IPL 2025 have come in the third-man region. A major contributor to this is him absolutely perfecting the uppercut. 

So far in IPL 2025, Prabhsimran has scored 24 runs via the uppercut —  that’s more than any other batter in the league, including Suryakumar Yadav. 

His primary strength —  the pull shot —  is still his biggest strength (he strikes at 292 while playing the pull vs pace) but his range through the off-side against the quicks has improved multifold, and that’s turned him into a force of nature. Opposition sides are yet to figure out how to contain him. 

The immediate challenge (and subsequent opportunity) that lies ahead 

The enforced IPL 2025 break could not have come at a worse time for Prabhsimran, who was batting as well as he has in his entire career, peeling off four consecutive fifties. 

But that’s in the past now. After a false start against RR in Jaipur, the immediate challenge for the 24-year-old will be to find the same momentum quickly and continue impacting games like he did in the first half of the campaign.

In the IPL’s 17-year history, plenty of hot batting runs have fizzled in the playoffs, reducing potentially great campaigns to nothing more than ‘good’ ones. IPL 2025 is unquestionably a campaign Prabhsimran will personally never forget, but he now has the opportunity to not just make the world talk about this season of his forever, but also a chance to immortalise himself as a Punjab Kings legend.