Yash Thakur IPL 2025: 25 wickets, 5-wicket haul, 17.72 strike-rate – Punjab Kings’ new-ball weapon Punjab Kings struck gold ahead of IPL 2025 by securing the services of right-arm speedster Yash Thakur, a three-season veteran already boasting the rare combination of a five-wicket haul and a sub-18 strike-rate. Across 21 bowling innings split between Lucknow Super Giants (2023-24) and now Punjab Kings, the 26-year-old has snapped 25 wickets while sending down 443 high-pressure deliveries. His 17.72 balls-per-wicket strike-rate sits among the quickest for any Indian seamer with 20-plus IPL wickets, while two three-wicket bursts and a solitary five-for underline his gift for breaking open games. Thakur’s most devastating spell came in the 2024 season when he tormented an opposition top-order with 5/30—figures that remain the joint-best by a LSG bowler in the tournament’s history. Despite bowling mostly in the powerplay and at the death, he has kept his economy within striking distance of 10.5 runs per over, illustrating both courage and control on batting-friendly tracks. Having already changed jerseys once—from Lucknow’s green to Punjab’s red—the Madhya Pradesh-born quick will look to add fresh chapters to his wicket tally in 2025, spearheading PBKS’s quest for a maiden IPL title.

Chris Gayle IPL story: 13 seasons, 4 965 runs, 357 sixes and one unforgettable 175. The self-styled “Universe Boss” walked into IPL 2009 with Kolkata Knight Riders, but it was at Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2011-2017 that he became a global T20 icon—belting 404 fours and 357 sixes overall at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 148. In 141 innings he cleared the rope once every 9.3 balls and produced 31 half-centuries plus six blistering hundreds, the most famous being his record 175* off 66 balls at the Chinnaswamy in 2013. After his Bengaluru fireworks, Gayle took his power game to Punjab Kings, turning up in orange from 2018 to 2021 and continuing to pepper boundaries with the same ruthless ease. While he rolled his arm over occasionally—18 wickets in 38 bowling innings—his narrative is written in soaring sixes and match-winning hundreds that re-defined T20 batting forever.

Note: This overview is partially generated using AI and is based on statistical data. Please verify with official sources for complete accuracy.