Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], March 13 (ANI): Marking the commencement of the preparations for the upcoming season 18 of the Indian Premier League, Punjab Kings (PBKS) have begun their training camp at the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium in Dharamshala.

The camp has been designed to fine-tune the team's strategy ahead of the tournament as the players train under the coaching staff to get in the groove.

The camp has been scheduled from March 12 to March 15 in Dharamsala and will be attended by key Indian players, including wicketkeeper-batter Prabhsimran Singh, all-rounder Shashank Singh, and veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Head coach Ricky Ponting, Assistant coach Brad Haddin and Fast bowling coach James Hopes will also be joining the team at HPCA.

Revealing the reason behind selecting Dharamsala as the training ground, head coach Ricky Ponting said as quoted from a press release by Punjab Kings, 'It feels great to come here and a lot of the guys haven't played at this ground and we've got three games in a row at the back end of the tournament here. So the thinking behind deciding to come here was to give the boys a bit of a feel of this ground.'

He added, 'We'll make the most of the training days here, and then we've got the possibility of five or six days training in Chandigarh.'

The camp will then move to Mullanpur from March 16 and will be joined by Captain Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh, who were a part of the 2025 Champions Trophy-winning India squad in Dubai. The squad, led by Iyer, will train at PBKS's home ground, the new PCA stadium, and will also feature international players like Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson, among others.

Earlier, the team also organized four training camps for the players to get acclimatized to the playing conditions and strengthen team bonding. While one camp took place in Mumbai in the first week of January, two camps were organised in Chandigarh. This was followed by a fourth camp in Dharamsala in the first week of March.

PBKS will begin their IPL campaign on March 25 against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi International Stadium. After playing another away game against Lucknow Super Giants, the team will return to Mullanpur to play two back-to-back home matches against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. (ANI)