Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia feels that the former finalists had the most successful but toughest auction earlier this month and have done only half the job on the bidding table for the IPL 2022 season. Wadia said that PBKS has picked a good team which is capable of winning the elusive IPL trophy.
Punjab Kings have performed poorly since the inception of the IPL, reaching the final only once in 14 attempts. He blew hot and cold over the past three seasons to finish sixth out of eight.
Retaining only 2 players in Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, Punjab Kings entered the auction with a purse of Rs 72 crore, which is the highest among the 10 teams.
At the end of the mega auction, Punjab Kings were left with Rs 3.5 crore but were able to complete their squad of 25 players. Most of his likes were appreciated by experts after the auction.
PBKS gets Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso RabadaJonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shah Rukh Khan, Liam Livingstone and Odeon Smith are spending huge sums of money on the said players.
He also picked U19 World Cup heroes Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma as valuable local picks.
“50 percent of the fight is finding the right team, which is what we’ve done. Now it’s up to the players, coaches Anil (Kumble), Jonty (Rhodes) and Damien (Wright) to really take us to that elusive title. We have been waiting for so long.
“Or at least make it to the top four play-offs because we have been underperforming in the last four-five years,” Wadia told Press Trust India.
In recent seasons, Punjab struggled with power hitting in the middle order and death bowling.
“We have a well-balanced team now. We bat till eight or nine and have bowlers who can do the job both in the front and in the death.
Wadia compared the current team of the 2008 batch to Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Brett Lee and Irfan, saying, “I would say it was the toughest and most successful auction for us since the first edition in 2008.” Pathan.
Glad that IPL is back in India
Wadia also said that he is happy that the IPL is back in India and is hopeful that it can be moved to other cities outside Maharashtra if it is safe enough to do it.
The BCCI on Friday announced that IPL 2022 will start from March 26 and 70 matches in league stages will be played at four venues in Mumbai and Pune.
“I think we have seen the worst of the pandemic. It is wonderful that the IPL is back in India, where it belongs. If it is held in different parts of India, it is even better. Me Looks like for this year, it is best if it is in one state and going forward we can have it across the country.”