Ex-India Player Steps Down From His Role At Punjab Kings, All Set To Join BCCI's Centre of Excellence: REPORT

Punjab Kings' resurgence in the eighteenth season of the Indian Premier League left everybody surprised. The Ricky Ponting and Shreyas Iyer-led side topped the leaderboard with 19 points from 14 games. The finalists of IPL 2025 won 9 out of their 14 league games, but were eventually defeated by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the summit clash of the tournament. Punjab Kings are now gearing up for the next season, and they will want to cross the final hurdle this time around.

Sunil Joshi to Part Ways with Punjab Kings: Report

Former India spinner Sunil Joshi is reportedly all set to part ways with the Punjab Kings. Joshi played a vital role in the Punjab Kings setup. The 55-year-old cited professional commitments, and he might take up a new role with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Joshi was serving as Punjab Kings' spin-bowling coach, and he is currently being speculated to be the one in line to join the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. As of now, there is no official announcement regarding the end of his stint with the two-time finalists, but a Punjab Kings official lavished praise on him while confirming his departure from the franchise.

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"He has written to us about his unavailability for the coming season. He is a good guy, and the franchise has a good equation with him. But we don't want to come in the way of someone's career growth," a Punjab Kings official said, as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Reports state that Joshi informed Punjab Kings Head Coach Ricky Ponting about his departure. Ponting assumed charge of the Punjab Kings franchise last year, and he transformed the team into an invincible force during IPL 2025.

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Dissecting Sunil Joshi's Career So Far

Between 1996 and 2001, Sunil Joshi represented India in 15 Tests and 69 ODIs. Joshi took 110 wickets across formats for India and also played four IPL games for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. It was Joshi's second stint with the Punjab Kings. His first professional commitment with the PBKS franchise came between 2020 and 2022 under Anil Kumble.