IPL 2022: Punjab Kings owner Ness Wadio threw the ball in the players’ court, said – we have done half the job

new Delhi:Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia believes he has done half the job by picking a team adorned with ‘best players’ in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) auction and now the franchise hopes That these players will help them become IPL champions for the first time. The performance of Punjab Kings since the inception of IPL has not been encouraging. The team has reached the final only once out of 14 seasons of this league. The team has finished sixth in the eight-team league despite some decent performances in the last three seasons.

The team reached the last IPL auction with Rs 72 crores. After the auction, cricket experts praised the franchise. Ness Wadia said, “Half the battle can be won with the right combination of players in the team. We have been successful in doing so. Now it is up to the players, coaches Anil Kumble, Jonty Rhodes and Damien Wright to really take us to the title we have been waiting for so long. At least ensure a place in the top four because the last four-five years have not been good for us.

After retaining only two players in Mayank Agarwal and young pacer Arshdeep Singh, Punjab added Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Odeon Smith and Liam Livingstone in the squad. To maintain consistency in the team, he bought back big-shot Shah Rukh Khan and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar, besides successful bids for Rishi Dhawan and Sandeep Sharma, who had previously represented Punjab.

In the last few seasons, the team had to bear the brunt of fast runs in the middle overs while batting and poor performance in the last overs when bowling. “We have a well balanced team now. Our team is capable of batting till number 8 and 9. We have bowlers who can do well in the opening and last overs.

Wadia compared this team to the team of 2008 which had legends like Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Brett Lee and Irfan Pathan. “I would say it was the toughest and most successful auction for us since the first season in 2008,” he said. He said that the franchise had started preparations for the auction in October last year itself.