'IPL Auction A Reboot for Punjab Kings'

'At the end of the day, we also had to look at players who will figure in the playing XI.'

It is literally a fresh start for Punjab Kings as they aim to end their IPL title drought after assembling quite a balanced squad at last weekend's Player Auction.

Having retained just two players in Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, Punjab Kings made some really smart buys at the auction.

They spent a whopping Rs 11.5 crore (Rs 115 million) to buy England big-hitter Liam Livingstone while also getting hold of South African pace sensation Kagiso Rabada (Rs 9.25 crore/Rs 92.5 million) and Tamil Nadu blazer Shahrukh Khan (Rs 9 crore/Rs 90 million).

Experienced opener Shikhar Dhawan, Exciting West Indian all-rounder Odean Smith and England's wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow make it a real power-packed batting line-up.

The franchise is also excited at the young talent at their disposal in India's U-19 World Cup star Raj Bawa along with Vaibhav Arora, Atharva Taide, Ansh Patel and Ishan Porel.

Punjab Kings CEO Satish Menon is delighted that the franchise achieved 95 percent of its targets at the auction and is really excited about IPL 2022.

"In the last 2-3 weeks, we had quite a few mock auction sessions where we tried to get an idea of how high the bid for a certain player could go up to, so we created roles and we created thresholds," Menon tells Harish Kotian/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview:

The auction was kind of a fresh start for Punjab Kings after retaining just two players ahead of the auction in Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh.

Very simply put, this was a reboot for us in every sense of the term because this is a long-term team. We went in the auction with a plan and I think we are 95 percent in that plan.

Punjab Kings Coach Anil Kumble is known to be a great tactician; he is big on planning. You must have had sleepless nights going into the auction.

We started work on the auction nearly two-and-half months back. The whole approach was to follow all your standard procedures, like following the players in domestic tournaments like the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Our analysts were there with the talent scouts at the games. Simultaneously, we had camps where we saw a lot of these guys. So all this information was available to Anil Kumble and the other coaches. They would process this along with the analysts and make a plan.

The information also came from overseas -- from Jonty Rhodes, Damien Wright and others. So all this information was put all together.

In the last 2-3 weeks, we had quite a few mock auction sessions where we tried to get an idea of how high the bid for a certain player could go up to, so we created roles and we created thresholds.

Punjab Kings surprised many by bidding Rs 11.5 crore for Liam Livingstone. Was he always part of your plans, because you seemed desperate to bag him at any cost?

He was definitely part of our plans. And as in the case at the auction, it all depends on who comes first. We wanted Aiden Markram, but the way things were going, his price would have overshot what we had kept aside for him.

At the end of the day, we also had to look at players who will figure in the playing XI. So to that extent, Liam Livingstone was assured of a place in the playing XI. You can have only four foreign players in your team.

Livingstone was in demand; you can see that from the price he went up to. It is not about us, but the price also gets driven up.

Odean Smith is a fantastic addition for just Rs 6 crore. Having seen what he has done with the ball and bat in the ODIs against India, would you say he came in pretty cheap?

Odean Smith was always part of our plans, so we wanted to get him at all costs.

Punjab Kings made some smart moves during the auction by buying experienced performers in Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow and Kagiso Rabada.

I think that was the reason why we also got people like Nathan Ellis and Sandeep Sharma. So we have a good mix of people with experience to combine with youngsters like Prerak Mankad and Raj Bawa.

Rishi Dhawan had a very good season in domestic cricket (for Himachal Pradesh). So we were very sure we wanted him in the side.

Atharva Taide is another one whom we wanted. Then you have someone like Vaibhav Arora, who has been a net bowler for us for the last two years. Writtick Chatterjee is another good bowler.

The spin department has been taken care in the form of Rahul Chahar, who is a good spinner in T20 cricket.

Shahrukh Khan has been another big performer with the bat in domestic cricket. You must be happy to have him back because he is one for the future.

Shahrukh was always part of our plans. He is our finisher, so he is a good player to have.

Are you looking at Mayank Agarwal or Shikhar Dhawan captaining Punjab Kings at this year's IPL?

The decision will be made this week, we will let everyone know.

There were reports that many franchises were unhappy with the mega auction as they had to let go of a lot of players whom they had invested so much over the years.
Could this be the last mega auction in the IPL? What are the franchises's views on this?

We have no idea. It is up to the BCCI to decide. To be honest, I haven't spoken to any other franchises. We leave the administration part to the BCCI and follow what they say.