Are Management Issues Holding Punjab Kings Back from IPL Glory for 18 Years?

The Holy Trinity of the Indian Premier League has come to an end, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeating Punjab Kings in the finals of the 2025 edition. After this, there are just two teams in IPL history that have never won the tournament even once, and these are Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings.

For the Delhi Capitals, many fans might say that luck has not favoured them, or the team was not very good in its performances towards the end of the season. But that has not been the case with Punjab Kings, as despite reaching the finals this time in the 2025 season, the team missed out on the trophy by a bare margin.

There have been various former players of the team who have blamed its management for the reason why the team has never won an IPL title. Among all the players who made such statements for the team, one of them has been Chris Gayle, the greatest T20 opener of all time.

Chris Gayle had been a part of the Punjab Kings towards the end of his IPL career, and he took an immediate exit from the tournament, proceeding not to play forward. Despite being the best T20 batsman and even holding a record total of 175 not out in the IPL, Gayle blamed the management of the Punjab Kings for his early exit from the IPL.

Fans might think that Chris Gayle is the only batsman to have made such bold remarks against the Punjab Kings and their management. However, there have been a number of players who talked about the team’s management and how poorly they were treated in the camp, which forced them to leave the team. Let’s take a look at the players who have blamed the management of the Punjab Kings.

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh was among the first players to tell the fans about the reality of Kings XI Punjab. He was a part of the team during the initial three seasons of the IPL, and after his retirement in 2017, Kings XI Punjab got him once again for the 2018 season. This allowed him to enjoy the last few years of his career with them.

Tournament	Matches	Runs	High Score	Average	Strike Rate	50s
IPL 2007/08	15	299	57	23.00	162.50	1
IPL 2009	14	340	58*	28.33	115.64	2
IPL 2009/10	14	255	43	21.25	128.14	0
IPL 2018	8	65	20	10.83	89.04	0

Yuvraj Singh was surely one of the greatest batsmen for the Indian cricket team, playing a crucial role in multiple wins. But after his retirement, he didn’t enjoy a good run in the Indian Premier League. During his last three IPL seasons, he was a part of three different teams, namely Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kings XI Punjab, and Mumbai Indians.

Fans were excited to see Yuvraj Singh back in the Kings XI Punjab team, but they were unaware that the finest Indian left-handed batsman has now lost his form. Yuvraj didn’t receive consistent chances to play for the team in the IPL 2018 season, and finished with 65 runs in 8 matches at an average of just 10.83 runs per innings.

But after he retired from the IPL, Yuvraj Singh opened up about the relationship between him and the management of Kings XI Punjab. He said that he was not given consistent chances to play for the team, and the team management didn’t like him. Yuvraj also continued by saying that the management picked the same players he suggested in the previous season, and went on to drop him from the team.

In the Instagram Live, he said:

I wanted to run away from Kings XI Punjab … the management didn’t like me there … they did nothing I asked them to do … and when I left they bought all the players I had been asking them to. I love Punjab but I did not like the running of the franchise.

Chris Gayle

The Universe Boss, and also the most loved foreign cricketer in India, Chris Gayle, recently spoke the truth about the Punjab Kings and the team management. Chris Gayle, who started his career with Kolkata Knight Riders, spent his prime years with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and after he was not picked by RCB in the 2018 auction, Kings XI Punjab went for him.

Tournament	Matches	Runs	High Score	Average	Strike Rate	50s
IPL 2018	11	368	104*	40.88	146.03	3
IPL 2019	13	490	99*	40.83	153.60	4
IPL 2020/21	7	288	99	41.14	137.14	3
IPL 2021	10	193	46	21.44	125.32	0

The initial few seasons of Chris Gayle, along with Punjab, were just like a fairytale, but there were issues between the team management and him that might have gone unnoticed. Gayle was not given consistent chances to play for the team, which became an issue and eventually led to his retirement from the IPL.

He first played for Kings XI Punjab in the 2018 season, and continued his brilliance, scoring 368 runs in 11 matches at an average of 40.88, with a century and 3 half-centuries. However, it should be noted that Chris Gayle missed out on a few games for the team despite giving such great performances in the season.

But in the 2019 season, he received consistent chances and proved himself by scoring 490 runs in 13 matches at an average of 40.83, with 4 half-centuries. Towards the IPL 2020/21 season, he played just 7 matches and scored 288 runs at an average of 41.14, with three half-centuries.

Before hanging up his shoes from the Indian Premier League, Chris Gayle played his last season for Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. This time, he didn’t receive an opportunity to play for the team and managed to score 193 runs in 10 matches at an average of 21.44, with a high score of 46.

No one had an idea that Chris Gayle was having issues with the management of Punjab Kings till he revealed it in a recent interview. Fans were also delighted to watch Chris Gayle support both Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 final, which highlighted the importance both teams had in his IPL career.

Gayle recently had a podcast with a popular Indian YouTuber, Shubhankar Mishra, where he said:

My IPL ended prematurely with Punjab. I was disrespected at Kings XI. I felt I wasn’t treated properly as a senior who had done so much for the league and brought value. They treated me like a kid. For the first time in my life, I felt like getting into depression. I broke down talking to Anil Kumble because I was really hurt. I was disappointed with him and the way the franchise was run. KL Rahul even called me, saying, ‘Chris, stay, you’ll play the next game’. But I just said, ‘I wish you all the best’, and packed my bag, and walked out.

Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell, the Australian all-rounder, also spent his prime time in the Indian Premier League with Kings XI Punjab. But, in 2024, he opened up about the strained relations between him and the management of Kings XI Punjab, including Virender Sehwag, which led to him leaving the team.

Tournament	Matches	Runs	High Score	Average	Strike Rate	50s
IPL 2014	16	552	95	34.50	187.75	4
IPL 2015	11	145	43	13.18	129.46	0
IPL 2016	11	179	68	19.88	144.35	2
IPL 2017	14	310	47	31.00	173.18	0
IPL 2020/21	13	108	32	15.42	101.88	0
IPL 2025	7	48	30	8.00	97.95	0

Maxwell published his book a few months ago, where he talked about the fallout that took place between him and Virender Sehwag, who were both teammates in the Kings XI Punjab. It should be noted that Glenn Maxwell was a part of the team when it reached the IPL final for the first time, and he scored 552 runs in 16 matches at an average of 34.50, at a strike rate of 187.75.

Although Glenn Maxwell was a part of the Punjab Kings even in the recent IPL edition, where they once again reached the tournament finals. But he was ruled out of the tournament after playing 7 matches, citing that he suffered an injury. His recent IPL season didn’t go well, as he scored just 48 runs in 7 matches and took 4 wickets.

In his book, Glenn Maxwell put criticism on Virender Sehwag, saying that he had a monopoly on making decisions for the team selection and even made some senseless decisions, which led to the downfall of the team.

He wrote:

When it came to selection, I thought it might be a good idea to bring the coaches into a WhatsApp group to make our decisions. Everyone agreed to this and shared their teams, with the exception of Sehwag. At the end of the process, he made it clear that he would pick the starting XI, end of story. We were losing on and off the field by now, with Sehwag on more than one occasion making decisions that didn’t necessarily make sense.

Glenn Maxwell also said in his book that he wanted to take part in the team’s press conference after their last IPL match against Rising Pune Supergiants. But Virender Sehwag lashed out at him badly, and eventually, he was also removed from the team’s WhatsApp group.

Maxwell said:

I volunteered to do press that night, but Sehwag said he would instead. Upon getting onto the team bus, I found I’d been deleted from the main WhatsApp group. What was going on here? By the time we reached the hotel my phone was blowing up, with Sehwag having unloaded on me as a “big disappointment”, blaming me for not taking responsibility as captain, and all the rest. It was unpleasant, especially when I thought we had parted on good terms.

Besides that, Maxwell also talked about the argument which took place between him and Virender Sehwag, saying:

I texted him to say how much it hurt to read those comments and added that he had lost a fan in me for the way he had conducted himself. Sehwag’s response was simple: “Don’t need fan like you.” We never spoke again. I knew my time was at an end and told the owners as much: if Sehwag was going to stick around, they were making a mistake and not to bother with me. He only lasted one more season.