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 4.8 crore on the youngster.In the initial years, the youngster did not get many chances. In the first six years, he played only nine games. It was from IPL 2023 that he started playing regularly. In IPL 2023 and 2024, he scored 358 runs and 334 runs respectively, but consistency was an issue.Before IPL 2025, Ricky Ponting called Prabhsimran Singh, gave him confidence, and also assigned him a task.“The task was to work on his cut and pull shots. Our academy timings are from 3:30 PM, but Prabhsimran used to come at 1:30 PM, and during those six weeks before the IPL, he worked really hard on his batting,” Kamalpreet Sandhu, Prabhsimran’s coach, told TimesofIndia.com.Last season’s performances helped him get picked for the India A squad to face Australia A in September. He capitalised on the opportunity by smashing 102 off 68 balls in the third unofficial ODI, helping India A seal the series 2-1.Ahead of IPL 2026, Ponting gave him another task, this time to avoid throwing away his wicket in the 30s and 40s.“That had been his problem. He used to hit quick cameos and then get out. Ponting advised him that since his game against spin was good, he could take an over or two after the powerplay. He told him that if he stayed till the 16th or 17th over, his strike rate would not dip. It was all about confidence,” said Kamalpreet Sandhu.In five matches this season, the 26-year-old has scored 211 runs at a strike rate of 173, including two fifties. He currently sits in the top five leading run-scorers.A rare talentRight from a young age, Prabhsimran was known as a hard-hitting batter in Punjab. The Patiala-born was so talented that during an Under-14 match at Dhruv Pandove Stadium, after he smashed a couple of sixes, the late D. P. Azad, then chairman of the Punjab Cricket Association coaching committee, remarked that he was too good for U-14s and did not allow him to continue in that tournament.“In 2012, Azad sir selected 20 Under-14 kids from six districts. I was the coach of Patiala Under-14. The likes of Anmolpreet Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, and Mayank Markande were in Patiala Under-14, whereas Shubman Gill and Nehal Wadhera were in Mohali and Ludhiana, respectively.“In one of the matches at Dhruv Pandove Stadium, Prabhsimran smashed eight sixes in the first three overs. Azad sir refused to believe that the kid was only 11 or 12. After two games, he said that Prabhsimran was too good for that level and that the other kids should not be scared,” Kamalpreet Sandhu said.“I still remember DP Azad sir’s words: ‘Kamal, look after this kid, he is special.’ He had natural strength, strong wrists, and hit the ball with immense power,” said Kamalpreet Sandhu, who runs Cricket Hub Academy.Kamal said there were a couple of moments that changed Prabhsimran as an individual. The first was being overlooked for the 2018 U-19 World Cup, which India won under Prithvi Shaw. A dejected Prabhsimran vented his frustration by scoring 298 in the Punjab inter-district U-23 tournament. He smashed 29 fours and 13 sixes during his 301-ball stay.That knock helped him garner the attention of IPL scouts, and Punjab Kings splurged Rs 4.8 crore on the youngster.“DP Azad sir gave us Kapil Dev. One look at Prabhsimran was enough for him to know the boy was special. Then Ponting, over the last 16 months, has taken his cricket to the next level,” said Sandhu.The second defining moment was when Ponting became the head coach of the Punjab Kings. After the win against MI, the former Australia skipper said on JioHotstar, “When players feel backed, like someone like Prabhsimran or Shashank (Singh), they respond with performances, and that’s what ultimately drives results.”More than a decade ago, DP Azad spotted something special in the right-hander which years later the former Australian captain has taken to a different level.Another consistent season at the top will keep Prabhsimran Singh in contention for an India call-up. With the Men in Blue set to play over 40 T20Is before the 2028 Summer Olympics, Prabhsimran will challenge the likes of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Priyansh Arya in that race because, along with his six-hitting prowess, he has also matured as a cricketer.