Punjab Kings go all guns blazing with ₹72 crores in their purse and come out with a squad full of Superstars!

The Punjab Kings stepped into the TATA IPL Mega Auction 2022 with the biggest purse at their disposal with ₹72 crores in their bag. The franchise after two long days of the auction has come out with a squad that is filled with superstars to the brim. After losing out their former skipper KL Rahul to Lucknow Super Giants during the retention phase, fans were not expecting much from the Kings heading into the auction. However, the team has managed to assemble a squad that looks like one of the prime contenders to win the league title on paper.

Punjab had room for 23 players in their squad after retaining Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh in the retention phase. With the opportunity to overhaul their squad, the Punjab Kings utilized the most of their purse and came out with a 25 man squad filled with the likes of superstars such as Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Odeon Smith, and Rahul Chahar.

Other than the superstars in their squad, the Kings have also bought in some young talent who can emerge as a leading talent in the upcoming years. But can the side live up to the expectations of what they have built on paper? Let’s take a look at some of the biggest talking points from the Punjab Kings’ performance at the auction table.

₹17.50 crores for Liam Livingstone and Odean Smith, Punjab Kings make desperate moves to fix Day 1 blunders!

The Punjab Kings shocked the critics as well as the fans when they spent big bucks early on the second day of the  IPL mega auction to acquire the services of Liam Livingstone for ₹11.50 crores, followed up by Odean Smith for ₹6 crores. 

While the two are exceptional players in their own rights, it feels like the Kings were desperate for an overseas all-rounder who can tonk the ball with the bat in the middle and death overs as well as produce wickets for their side in crunch situations. 

The Kings had the opportunity to acquire names such as Jason Holder, Mitchel Marsh on the first day of the auction but decided to pull out early from the race to sign the players. In comparison, most of the other franchises have found a plethora of all-rounders who can perform the same role and have cost a lot less than what the Punjab Kings spent. 

It will be very interesting to see if Liam Livingstone and Odean Smith can replicate their performances from across the globe as the biggest stage of them for the Punjab Kings this season.

Kagiso Rabada joins the Kings for ₹9.25 crores as the pace battery looks as charged in forever!

It seems as though Punjab Kings have hit the jackpot at ₹9.25 crores for Kagiso Rabada, as the South African speedster is perhaps one of, if not the best T20 pacers in the current day. Rabada is exceptionally good with the new ball in his hands and has proven his worth as a lethal option in the death overs.

Pair him up with Arshdeep Singh who has been equally good for the Punjab Kings in the past seasons, we have one of the best fast bowling units in the league this season.

With Rabada and Arshdeep Singh spearheading the pace unit, the franchisee will have bowling options in Sandeep Sharma, Ishan Porell, and Odean Smith who can easily add more depth to the pace unit.

Punjab Kings break the bank for Shahrukh Khan, as the man from Tamil Nadu bags ₹9 crores

After a hard-fought bidding war with the Chennai Super Kings on day 1 of the mega auction, the Punjab Kings were able to reacquire Shahrukh Khan for a whopping price tag of ₹9 crores, as the player emerged as the joint second most expensive Indian all-rounder this season.

Shahrukh has been exceptionally good in domestic cricket in the last few seasons and has been a crucial member of the Tamil Nadu side as they went to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for consecutive years in a row. He was a part of the Punjab Kings last season as he scored 11 games for the Kings and had 153 runs to his name with a strike rate of 134.2

While we can understand that both the player and the franchise could not agree on retention terms before the auction, spending a huge amount of money on someone who hasn't been as effective as you wished for could haunt Punjab Kings this season. We hope that the player can live up to his price tag and the expectations this season, but as of now this definitely seems like an overpriced purchase.

With “Gabbar” Shikhar Dhawan in their ranks, have Punjab Kings found their captain after KL Rahul’s exit?

The Punjab Kings acquired Shikhar Dhawan from the marquee names on the Day 1 of the mega auction for a price tag of ₹8.25 crores. Shikhar has been one of the most dependable batters at the top of the order and has the stats to back his bidding. The experienced batter has racked up 5784 runs in his 192 appearances in the Indian Premier League.

He had great stints with both Sunrises Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals and will look to repeat the same success with his new franchise. With a name as Shikhar Dhawan into the fray, people are already talking about him as the next in line to lead the franchise after KL Rahul’s exit. While the Kings did retain Mayank Agarwal for ₹14 crores, the franchise might be a bit sceptical to hand him the baton as he is not an out-and-out leader, tempting the franchise to hand over the captaincy role to Dhawan who brings a lot to the table.

Overall we believe that the Kings had a fairly productive auction this season and their think tank has definitely come up with a nice renovation of the squad post KL Rahul's exit from the franchise. It will be very interesting to see if the team can run all the way to their maiden IPL title, or this will be yet another drought for the Punjab Kings.