Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their typical fashion went after the shiniest thing at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 auction. They were involved in an intense bidding war to stage the homecoming of their young all-rounder Sam Curran for a record-breaking Rs 18.25 crore which made him the most expensive player in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL).
After roping in the ‘Player of the series’ of T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, the Punjab-based franchise went after only one other overseas player. PBKS picked Pakistan-born Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza for his base price of Rs 50 lakh.
PBKS also picked three uncapped Indian players to fill in the remaining slots towards the latter stages of the auction.
Earlier, their biggest move ahead of the next season was to bring in a new captain after releasing Mayank Agarwal, and the side decided to promote veteran batter Shikhar Dhawan to this role.
PBKS had a mixed bag of a season under their under-performing skipper Mayank Agarwal. They were not too far away from the playoff spot as they had seven wins from 14 games and finished seventh on the points table. The Punjab-based franchise is one of those franchises that go big in the IPL auctions but have not been able to produce a trophy-winning team.
Players picked in the Auction:
Sam Curran: Rs 18.25 crore
Sikandar Raza: Rs 50 Lakh
Harpreet Bhatia: Rs 40 Lakh
Vidwath Kaverappa: Rs 20 Lakh
Mohit Rathee: Rs 20 Lakh
V Kaverappa: Rs 20 lakh
Captain: Shikhar Dhawan
Coach: Anil Kumble
Home ground: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
IPL titles: 0
Owner: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul, Mohit Burman
List of players retained by Punjab Kings:
Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar
List of players released by Punjab Kings:
Mayank Agarwal, Odean Smith, Vaibhav Arora, Benny Howell, Ishan Porel, Ansh Patel, Prerak Mankad, Sandeep Sharma, Writtick Chatterjee
