Wasim Jaffer is set to become the new head coach of the Punjab Kings, with the contract expiration of Punjab’s current coach Trevor Bayliss, who was bound with PBKS in a two-year contract.
This will be Jaffer’s third spell with the Punjab Kings in a backroom staff role. Wasim was relieved of his duties by the Punjab Kings as batting consultant before the 2024 IPL.
Jaffer was the Punjab Kings’ batting coach as well from 2019 to 2021, although he stepped down before the IPL 2022 auction, and now he is back again in the Punjab dugout with a more significant role in the franchise.
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Jaffer, who has played 31 Tests for India, will face a difficult assignment because the Punjab Kings are one of the eight founding members of the IPL and have failed to reach the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, dating back to the 2014 edition, when they made their solitary appearance in the IPL final.
In the IPL 2024, the Punjab Kings finished eighth in the points table with only five wins in sixteen games. Interestingly, the IPL’s regular underachievers were both hot and cool throughout the competition.
On one day, they had the most successful run chase in T20 cricket, chasing down 262 at Eden Gardens against the Kolkata Knight Riders and defeating five-time champion Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk, and on the other day they were restricted to 140 odd by the Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals.
In Punjab’s last season’s performance, an important factor was also the injury of skipper Shikhar Dhawan. But now, when he returns to the squad, it will be interesting to see if Jaffer continues to use the 39-year-old Southpaw as the captain of the team or grooms a new leader.
The Punjab Kings’ poor home record is also another addition to Jaffer’s list of problems to solve in Punjab Kings. In last season, Punjab Kings played seven home games—five in its new stadium in Mullanpur and two in Dharamsala—and had only one victory.
