Did our job at IPL auction, over to players to win Punjab Kings the elusive trophy: Ness Wadia

Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia feels they have done half the job by picking a "well-rounded" squad at the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) auction and hopes the chosen players will do the rest to help the franchise bag the elusive trophy. Punjab Kings have under-performed since IPL's inception, reaching the final only once in 14 attempts. They blew hot and cold in the last three seasons to end up sixth out of eight teams. They went into the mega auction with the maximum purse of Rs 72 crore out of the 10 teams, which doesn't provide any guarantee for a successful buying spree due in a highly dynamic environment, but their decisions were largely lauded by the pundits. "50% of the battle is getting the right team, which is what we've done. Now it's up to the players, coaches Anil (Kumble), Jonty (Rhodes) and Damien (Wright), to really take us to that elusive title we have been waiting for so long. "Or at least a place in the top four play-offs because we have had a bad run the last four-five years," Wadia told PTI.

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Punjab Kings bought the highest numbers of players at the 2022 Indian Premier League mega auctions, a total of 23 players, after retaining just two players in Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh. Their biggest buy of the auction was English allrounder Liam Livingstone, for whom they spent Rs 11.5

Having retained only two players in Mayank Agarwal and young pacer Arshdeep Singh, Punjab managed to get the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Odean Smith and Liam Livingstone. To maintain some continuity, they also bought back the big-hitting Shah Rukh Khan and left-arm spinner Harpeet