On the eve of the mega auction for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the old franchise of the event, Punjab Kings, has been alleged heavily by one of their former players, the veteran all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham, who is not ready to be involved for the franchise in the future.
The Punjab Kings have not enjoyed so much success in the history of the tournament, as their best position in the league came during the 2014 season, when under the captaincy of George Bailey, they finished as the runners-up, losing the final of the competition against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
In the previous season of the IPL, they finished in the ninth position in the points table with just five victories in 14 clashes at a net run rate of -0.353. The season before that saw them finishing at the eighth position with six victories in 14 games, while in 2022, they had a decent time with a sixth-rank finish, thanks to the seven victories.
“Never had a good experience with Punjab Kings”- Krishnappa Gowtham
However, the relationship and the management handling the players haven’t been sweet when it gets associated with the Punjab Kings, who has a history of it. Recently, the premier all-rounder of Australia, Glenn Maxwell, looked back at one of the previous seasons of the event when he shared a fragile relationship with Virender Sehwag, part of the franchise back then.
A day before the mega auction of the IPL 2025 takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Karnataka all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham was asked if there is any team he would not want to be part of in the future, and the off-spinner straightaway named this franchise.
“I will say Punjab Kings, yeah!! I am just being very honest for the reason, being I never had a good experience with the team. There are other things, not just about cricket. There are other things as well. It’s not the way I would want to be treated as a cricketer.”
The Bengaluru-born has picked up 74 wickets in 91 innings in the T20s at an average of 28.06 and an economy rate of 7.18, with the best of 4/19. With the bat in hand, the right-hander has nailed 734 runs at the strike rate of over 158.18 with the help of two fifties.
It was the 2020/21 season of the league when the 34-year-old found himself being part of the Punjab Kings and featured in only two games, picking one solitary wicket for the economy rate of 10.50.
He expressed that even though he always looks to give more than 100% in the field of whichever he remains a part of, he might not be able to do the same if he again gets back to the PBKS.
“I think there is a lot more. What I wear on my sleeve is, like when I play for a team, I always want to give my 100% or more than 100% on the field. I never keep anything back. But I wouldn’t give more than 100% to Punjab Kings if they pick me.” Gowtham addressed.
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The franchise also parted ways with some of their notable players in the form of KL Rahul, the leading run-getter for the side with 2548 runs at a strike rate of around 140, with David Miller also enjoying 1974 runs at a strike rate of 140.
They have retained two uncapped players in the form of Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh, and under new head coach, Ricky Ponting, will aim to build a new team for the upcoming three seasons.