Kings XI Punjab has taken it upon itself to identify and nurture cricketing talent in its catchment area with an aim to further develop cricket as a sport in the region. To this end – the KXIP Cup, a T-20 tournament - played in a round robin format and comprised of five teams, two from Punjab – the PCA XI & PCA Colts lead by Ravi Inder Singh and Taruvar Kohli respectively.

There were one each from the other three states of Haryana – Haryana Colts, captained by Sumir Sharma, Himachal Pradesh – HPCA Colts – lead by Ashok Thakur and Jammu & Kashmir – JKCA Colts, captained by Ian Dev Singh. A six day tournament was conducted at Chandigarh and Mohali from 28 Jan to 02 Feb 09. Officially inaugurated by Preity Zinta at a well attended press conference at the PCA, the KXIP Cup execution was undertaken primarily by Col. Arvinder Singh, our new VP – Operations with support from Bhupinder Singh, our new head of Talent Scouting and the Kings XI Punjab Academy.

Taking it's promise to promote cricket at the grassroot levels, the KXIP Cup was intended to not only provide a suitable platform to budding cricketers but also help identify suitable talent for the Kings XI Punjab team. To further develop the game of cricket in the region, the Franchise owners of Kings XI Punjab – Preity Zinta, Mohit Burman, Karan Paul and Ness Wadia feel it is important that tournaments, coaching camps and cricket seminars are periodically conducted with the aim of identifying, nurturing and grooming regional talent in the pursuit of excellence in the game. The talent so scouted will be nurtured by the Kings XI Punjab Cricket Academy under the eye of Head Coach Tom Moody

The tournament can best be described as intense and fierce and exhibited high levels of passion for the game of cricket. It culminated with an exciting final between the PCA Colts winning against PCA XI to win the Cup. Preity and Ness were present to award the first sparkling Kings XI Punjab Cup along with the prize money of Rs 300,000 to the winning team. PCA XI, the runner up team was handed over Rs 200,000 as prize money. Taruvar Kohli was declared Man of the Match. The other honors included : Sarabjeet Ladda, PCA XI, who was judged the Man of the Tournament for his exceptional play throughout the tournament; Taruvar Kohli, PCA Colts, best batsman; Deepak Bansal, PCA Colts, Best Bowler; Abir Lavasa, Haryana Colts, best catch of the tournament; and Pargat Singh, PCA Colts, most promising youngster of the tournament as well.

This year, the Franchise promoters had also decided not to levy any Gate Money for the Inaugural 2009 Cup thus keeping their focus on nurturing skill and passion for the game at the grassroots level.