Rajasthan Royals have a long and well-documented history of finding talent before anyone else does. Vaibhav Suryavanshi at 13. Shane Watson from obscurity. Sanju Samson before he was a household name. And now, in IPL 2026, they have done it again.
Yash Raj Punja is 19 years old, stands six feet five inches tall, was born in Abu Dhabi, had never played a single game of professional cricket before this season, and is now bowling leg spin in the IPL. The story of how he got there is one of the most extraordinary in this year’s tournament.
Yash Raj Punja Age and Early Life
Yash Raj Punja was born on June 26, 2006, in Abu Dhabi, to Indian parents Dheeraj and Shilpa Punja. He is affiliated with the Karnataka domestic team and hails from Mangalore. He grew up in the UAE, attending Cambridge High School in Abu Dhabi, where he initially started his cricketing career as a seam bowler at the Zayed Cricket Academy. The transition to leg spin was not planned. There was an issue with his bowling action as a fast bowler, which frustrated him, and his coaches advised him to take up leg spin as a result. That accidental pivot turned out to be one of the best decisions in his early cricket life.
Yash Raj Punja Brother: How Yodhin Punja Shaped His Cricket Career
The single biggest influence on Yash Raj Punja’s cricketing journey is his elder brother Yodhin Punja. At nine years old, Yash watched his brother become the UAE’s youngest first-class cricketer. A few days later, Yodhin also became the UAE’s youngest player to represent the national senior side at 16 years and 206 days.
Yash has been open about what that meant to him. He said in an interview that he started playing cricket because of his elder brother and that when Yodhin played for the UAE men’s team, everyone looked up to him, and that is what sparked his own desire to pursue the sport. It was also on his elder brother’s advice that Yash switched from seam bowling to leg spin, the decision that has defined his entire career trajectory.
Yash Raj Punja Parents and Family Background
His father Dheeraj Punja supported his cricket dreams from an early age, and his mother Shilpa Punja played throwball at the national level, meaning the family has sporting DNA running through both sides. Growing up in a UAE-India household with one son already playing international cricket and another aspiring to follow, cricket was never just a hobby in the Punja family. It was the plan.
Yash Raj Punja Bowling Style and Height
Yash Raj Punja is a tall leg-spinner standing at six feet five inches, which gives him a high release point that creates extra bounce and makes him difficult to read. His skill set includes the ability to turn the ball, generate that extra bounce, and bowl a lethal googly. The combination of height and wrist spin is unusual. Most tall bowlers gravitate toward pace. Punja has weaponised his frame for spin, and the extra bounce it generates is something most batters at domestic level had not encountered before they faced him.
He has cited Anil Kumble as a significant inspiration, and there are similarities beyond just the height and the Karnataka connection. Like Kumble, Punja started as a fast bowler before transitioning to leg spin, a parallel that he has acknowledged in interviews. During his time as a net bowler for Rajasthan Royals, he also received guidance from Yuzvendra Chahal, learning pace variations and flight control from one of India’s finest ever wrist spinners.
Yash Raj Punja Cricketer Stats: Maharaja Trophy to IPL 2026
The numbers that earned Punja an IPL contract come from just one domestic tournament. In the 2025 Maharaja Trophy, representing Hubli Tigers, he finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 23 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 12.48 and an economy of 7.45, and his performances were instrumental in taking the team to a runner-up finish.
He had not played any professional cricket at any level before his IPL debut. That fact alone makes everything that followed even more remarkable.
Yash Raj Punja IPL 2026 Debut: What Happened Against KKR
Rajasthan Royals handed Punja his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on April 19. He was brought in as the Impact Player after the fifth over and was introduced into the attack immediately, with the task of closing out the powerplay.
His first over was expensive, as Rovman Powell hit him for a six and a four. But Punja held his nerve and made a strong comeback, conceding only seven, three, and three runs in his last three overs, and picked up the wicket of Ramandeep Singh to finish with figures of 1 for 25 in four overs. For a 19-year-old bowling his first over of professional cricket at Eden Gardens under IPL lights, that composure was the most notable thing about the performance.
Today against Punjab Kings at Mullanpur, Yash Raj Punja came in for Ravi Bishnoi in the Rajasthan Royals playing XI and has already removed Cooper Connolly as RR bowl first, confirming his place in the side is growing match by match.
Why Yash Raj Punja Is a Name to Remember
A boy who grew up watching his brother play international cricket for UAE, switched to leg spin because of a flawed fast bowling action, moved to Bengaluru after his school exams, spent two years bowling in IPL nets without a contract, took 23 wickets in one domestic tournament, and is now taking wickets in the IPL having never played a single professional game before this season. Yash Raj Punja’s story is proof that Rajasthan Royals do not just buy cricketers. They find them.
Lucky Raina is a complete cricket writer chasing corporate dreams by day and cricket stories by night. Once a promising Under 16 cricketer, life took him down a different pitch but the love for the game never left.
