Punjab Kings who haven’t made the playoffs since 2014 decided to start with a clean slate for IPL 2022 as they released almost all their players and retained only two. KL Rahul who has been the captain over the last two seasons decided not to stay with the team and so wasn’t retained. Mayank Agarwal was the only capped Indian they retained for 14 CR and Arshdeep Singh was the uncapped Indian player they retained for 4 CR. Mayank Agarwal will lead PBKS in IPL 2022. Punjab Kings released players like Shahrukh Khan, Mohammad Shami, and Ravi Bishnoi who were key Indian players. Just like all IPL Auctions, even in this Auction, Punjab Kings started with the highest purse i.e., 72 CR.
Punjab Kings started the IPL 2022 Mega Auction as they bought the first player – Shikhar Dhawan for 8.25 CR. Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal will form a formidable opening pair at the top with the left-right combination. They bought another ex-DC player who was in the marquee set – Kagiso Rabada for 9.25 CR. In the wicket-keeper’s section, they bought Jonny Bairstow for 6.75 who could be considered as a steal. They tried to buy Kuldeep Yadav but settled with Rahul Chahar for 5.25 CR. Shahrukh Khan who was going to be one of the most expensive uncapped Indians went to PBKS for a whopping 9 CR. They couldn’t retain him but managed to get him back at a huge price. Towards the end of Day 1, they managed to get back their old players – Harpreet Brar for 3.8 CR, Prabhsimran Singh for 60 Lakhs, and Ishan Porel for 25 Lakhs.
Punjab Kings started Day 2 with the most expensive overseas players of IPL Auction 2022 as they bought Liam Livingstone for 11.5 CR. They even managed to get Odean Smith for 6 CR. Raj Bawa who did well in the U19 World Cup will be part of the PBKS squad in IPL 2022 for 2 CR. Apart from that, they bought Rishi Dhawan for 55 Lakhs and Sandeep Sharma for 50 Lakhs, two good domestic players. They finished the Auction with the three overseas buys of Benny Howell for 40 Lakhs, Bhanuka Rajapaksa for 50 Lakhs, and Nathan Ellis for 75 Lakhs. Howell has made a name for himself in the English T20 circuit and the Hundred and Ellis was part of the PBKS squad last year as well. PBKS is one of the three teams that have bought only 7 overseas players despite the limit being 8.
PBKS’ Final Squad: Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada*, Jonny Bairstow*, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone*, Odean Smith*, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Benny Howell*, Bhanuka Rajapaksa*, Nathan Ellis*, Atharva Taide
Total Squad Size: 25 – 18 Indians and 7 Overseas
Purse Remaining: 3.45 CR
Probable Playing XI: Mayank Agarwal (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow (WK)*, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Dhawan / Raj Bawa, Odean Smith*, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada*, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
