IPL 2026: Amid Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Priyansh Arya noise, Prabhsimran Singh is quietly 'raising the bar'

NEW DELHI: On Thursday evening, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer hailed Prabhsimran Singh for "raising his bar". The 26-year-old lit up the Wankhede Stadium with his exquisite strokeplay, slamming an unbeaten 39-ball 80 against the Mumbai Indians to take Punjab Kings home. With this victory, Punjab Kings sit top of the IPL 2026 points table.

Amid all the noise around teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and six-hitting prowess of Priyansh Arya, who is also Prabhsimran's opening partner, the Patiala-born batter is quietly doing his job -- one knock at a time. Prabhsimran played a pivotal role in the Punjab Kings reaching the finals last season, scoring 549 runs at a strike rate of 160. 53.

"I think he has certainly raised his bar, considering last season where he was going in the power play, just swinging wild. Even though getting runs, he was giving us excellent starts. But this time I feel that he's got that maturity to finish off the game," Iyer said in the post-match presentation, showering praise on Prabhsimran.

"And it's great to see youngsters coming up and finishing off the games, taking the responsibility and saying that, okay, I'm going to win the match for the team. So phenomenal player, talent, and other than that, I feel that the more matches he's getting, he's actually getting (more) mature," he added. The 25-year-old has been part of Punjab Kings, earlier Kings XI Punjab, since 2019, when the Mohali-based franchise splurged Rs 4.