When West Indies batter Nicholas Pooran’s name in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction started a bidding war, it surprised many. Finally, Pooran’s services were acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for a whopping Rs 10.75 crore, which was considered way above par for a batter who was inconsistent (before the India-West Indies T20I series). Now that the dust has settled, their spin bowling coach, legendary Muttiah Muralitharan has explained why they splurged a big amount of their purse on the Caribbean wicketkeeper-batter. Muralitharan has also revealed SRH’s first choice wicketkeeper-batter going into the auction.
"We initially wanted to buy Kishan. But once his bid crossed our budget, we were forced to look for alternatives. Yes, [Jonny] Bairstow was available, but we had doubts on whether he would be available for the entire season. We wanted an international wicketkeeper who would be available for all the games, so we thought Pooran was the right choice once Kishan slipped away,” Muralitharan revealed in an interview with Sportskeeda.
SRH bid till Rs 15 crore for Kishan. However, Mumbai Indians (MI) outlasted them in the bidding war as the five-time IPL champions wanted to retain their core.
Muralitharan feels that the price tag is justified especially with multiple franchises were bidding for him including Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
“We believe that he’ll do well for us. And the fact that he was sold for such a high price proves that many other franchises desperately wanted him in their squads. Surely, we’re not the only ones,” he further explained.
Since the whopping Rs 10.75 crore bid, the 26-year-old has showed promise in the shortest format. He scored a total of 184 runs including three half-centuries in the three-T20I series where West Indies suffered a whitewash.
However, Punjab Kings (PBKS) had their reasons to not retain or not bid for Pooran in the auction. The southpaw had a horrible IPL 2021 as he managed to score just 85 runs from 12 games at an average of 7.72 with a high score of 32. Also, he bagged four ducks in the season. His inability to perform was one of the reasons why PBKS finished sixth on the points table and were out of the playoffs race early in the tournament.
