Prabhsimran Singh

His path to the national youth setup was not smooth. Despite heavy scoring for Punjab across several age-group levels, he was overlooked when the India Under-19 squad was chosen for a tour of Sri Lanka in August 2018. Rather than letting the omission define him, he responded with an innings of 298 for Patiala in the Punjab Under-23 district competition. That knock helped bring him into the selectors' thinking, and he was subsequently named in the India squad for the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup.

In the 2019 auction, Punjab Kings secured his services for 4.8 crore, but regular appearances in the IPL proved hard to come by at first. He kept building his case in domestic cricket, finishing as Punjab's top run-scorer in the 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and following it with another productive campaign the next season. The franchise held on to him through this period.

His real chance arrived in 2023, when he featured in all 14 of Punjab Kings' matches and made 358 runs. The highlight was a century, 103 against the Delhi Capitals on a pitch that offered turn, and the season cemented his place as an attacking option at the top of the order. He continued in that role in 2024, collecting 334 runs across 14 games, a slightly lower return than the year before. Punjab Kings chose to retain him ahead of the 2025 mega auction.