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IPL franchise Punjab Kings have extended their hand to help India fight the battle against COVID-19. PBKS have joined forces with Round Table India (RTI) to provide oxygen concentrators to needy COVID-19 patients. Punjab Kings will finance the oxygen concentrators and RTI will handle the distribution part - whether they need to be directly handed over to patients or charitable institutions. Once a concentrator is returned after use, it will be sanitized before being handed over to another patient. Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia, while announcing PBKS's COVID relief program called 'Project Saah', said the only way India can defeat the virus is by joining forces.

 Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia on Friday advocated daily testing of players during the IPL and predicted that the upcoming 13th edition of the T20 league in the UAE will be the most watched in the tournament's history. Ness Wadia's comments came after IPL chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed that the T20 league will be held from September 19 to November 8. All teams are now awaiting the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) from the BCCI, which will finalize the logistics in the IPL Governing Council meet next week.

KXIP is now Punjab Kings and its co-owner Ness Wadia on Saturday said the franchise needed to rebrand itself after so many years of IPL and the name change was something it wanted since 2019. Wadia feels Punjab Kings is a simpler name compared to Kings XI Punjab and will connect more with their fan base. "We just felt that we wanted to relook at things. We needed to rebrand and reinvent ourselves after so many years. As they say if something doesn't work, change it and try and get it working," Wadia told PTI, referring to the team's title-less run in the IPL since the event's inaugural edition in 2008.

Ness Wadia feels Punjab Kings is a simpler name compared to Kings XI Punjab and will connect more with their fan base. Kings XI Punjab had a reference to the playing XI. Punjab Kings is more inclusive and will resonate better with the fans,” he said. On his team's buys at the auction, he added: "Anil and KL are quite happy about the players they have got. Now just they need to go out there and perform."

Wadia acknowledged the enormous challenge of accommodating a tournament across three venues, involving eight teams while making sure no safety norms are sidestepped. "Bio-security is something that should be very seriously considered but don't know if it can be implemented in an eight-team tournament," Ness Wadia said. "We are waiting for the SOPs from the BCCI. UAE also has a very high testing rate (472,575 per million) and they have all the technology at their disposal. The BCCI will need the help of the local government in ensuring adequate testing is done.” This will be the second instance of IPL being hosted by the UAE, although their first tryst with the tournament was partial during the 2014 General elections in India. With no spectators allowed at the venues, the franchises are likely to incur a loss of revenue stream. Wadia hoped that the franchises would be compensated by the BCCI for the same. "The IPL will bring much-needed optimism to the pessimism...

Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia came out in support of BCCI on Tuesday by backing the board's decision to suspend IPL 2021 in India amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic. 'Best decision given the circumstances': Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia lauds BCCI's decision to suspend IPL 2021.