Punjab Kings are poised to part company with at least seven players before next month’s IPL 2026 auction, with Glenn Maxwell the standout name on the release list. The Australian all-rounder managed only seven matches in 2025, breaking a finger halfway through the campaign. His returns were lean – 48 runs from six innings, four wickets with the ball – and four consecutive single-digit scores hardly helped a side chasing its first title.
Mitchell Owen, who filled in for Maxwell, appears safe. Picked up for his base price of INR 3 crore, the big-hitting Tasmanian had rocketed to prominence in BBL 13, topping the run charts with 452 runs at a striking 203.60 and two hundreds. His solitary IPL knock, though, lasted two balls for nought. Even so, Punjab’s think-tank is inclined to back the 23-year-old, figuring one innings is too small a sample to judge.
Maxwell’s latest stint with the franchise – his third after spells from 2014-17 and again in 2021 – cost INR 4.2 crore at the 2025 auction. Since stepping away from ODIs in June, he has remained a force in the shortest format, scoring 171 T20I runs this year at 169.30, highlighted by an unbeaten 62 against South Africa in Cairns.
Also heading for the exit, barring a late change of heart, are Aaron Hardie, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dubey and Vishnu Vinod. Jamieson, brought in when Lockie Ferguson was ruled out, claimed five wickets across four outings. Dubey played once; Hardie, Sen and Vinod never made it onto the park in 2025.
Punjab finished runners-up last season but, as every IPL watcher knows, momentum rarely carries over once the auction reshuffles the pack. A lighter wage bill gives the franchise room to bid for specialist death-overs bowling or a domestic finisher – two areas the back-room staff felt were exposed in last year’s final push.
Whether releasing Maxwell, still capable of match-turning spurts, proves wise will be tested once the gavel falls in December.
