While he hasn’t been great as a T20 batter, he still has strong credentials as captain, and his track record is encouraging.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) have retained only two players ahead of the IPL 2025 auction – Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. They spent INR 5.50 crores at Shashank and INR 4 crores at Prabhsimran, spending only INR 9.50 crores.
They have retained the least number of players and will be in the auction with the biggest purse among the ten teams. They will have to fill almost all slots, but their primary target will be to find a player who will lead the franchise.
According to a report by Cricbuzz, PBKS will target Steve Smith and make them their next captain to take the team forward. It may have to do with the presence of Ricky Ponting as the coach, for he has always shown his liking towards the former Australian captain and also took him to Delhi Capitals (DC) in the past.
Also Read: Punjab Kings front-runners to Sign Rishabh Pant in IPL 2025 Auction
Smith has 2485 runs at an average of 34.51 and a 128.09 strike rate, including 11 fifties and a century, in 93 IPL innings while playing for four IPL teams in the past. His last IPL outing came while playing for Delhi Capitals (DC) during the second half of the 2021 season.
Steve Smith’s strong credentials as captain
While Steve Smith hasn’t been great as a T20 batter, he still has strong credentials as captain, and his track record is encouraging. He has played 73 matches as a leader in T20s and won 45, with a healthy win % of 61.64.
Recently, he led Washington Freedom to the title in the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024 and also won the Player of the Match award in the final for his blitzkrieg knock. Previously, Smith took Rising Pune Supergiant to the final in 2017, where they came short against Mumbai Indians (MI) by just one run.
He is tactically sound and has previous experience leading a T20 side. Maybe he needs to improve as a batter, but that doesn’t take anything away from his superior ability to read the game well.
Punjab Kings have struggled to find a quality leader who can take the franchise in the right direction. It won’t be surprising if reports about Smith taking over eventually prove correct.
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