In the auction held on December 23 in Kochi, Punjab Kings chose Sam Curran (INR 18.50 crore), Sikandar Raza (INR 50 lakh), Harpreet Bhatia (INR 40 lakh), Vidwath Kaverappa (INR 20 lakh) , Mohit Rathee (INR 20 lakh) and Shivam Singh (INR 20 lakh). None of them, with the exception of Curran and Raza, are very well known.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra questioned their strategy. “If you (PBKS) didn’t make any changes, that means Anil Kumble had made the right team. You had made a good team selection, it was enough to make a small adjustment not big changes, Trevor Bayliss felt like that. So why was Kumble deleted? I was just wondering.”
Ahead of the auction, PBKS shortlisted five foreign players – Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Nathan Ellis – from last year’s squad. They added Curran and Raza to their overseas contingent at the auction but opted against picking an eighth overseas player even though they had 12.95 crores left in their purse.
Chopra also questioned the PBKS for not selecting their full quota of foreign players.
“If anyone had money to spend after Hyderabad it was the Punjab Kings. They kept a 22-member squad, you can keep 25, including seven overseas. They should have kept one player stranger again. I understand COVID is behind us, but you should have a contingency plan. Did they miss a trick?”
Chopra noted that except for Curran and Raza, PBKS did not acquire any other top players and said, “They bought Sam Curran. They got Sikandar Raza very cheap, at base price. To be fair, they didn’t spend much other than Sam. Curran and Sikandar Raza. Sam Curran was definitely very expensive, then Harpreet Bhatia, Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh – not really much.”
