IPL 2022: After assembling a very strong roster this year. The Punjab franchise will be looking forward to lifting the championship.
The Punjab Kings franchise was one of the teams that had a successful outing in the blockbuster auction. Only Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh were retained by the Punjab franchise before the auction. They came into the tournament with the largest prize pool. It’s safe to say that the Kings covered all of the bases.
Liam Livingstone, England’s hard-hitting all-rounder, was the side’s most expensive acquisition. He was purchased for INR 11.5 crore after a heated bidding war. Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Odean Smith, Shahrukh Khan, and U19 all-rounder Raj Bawa were among the main players acquired by the team.
IPL 2022: 5 Most Important Player For PBKS
1. Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal is one of India’s top-opening batsmen. The right-hander has had one of the most consistent runs in the game after being purchased by Punjab Kings in the 2018 auction. The Kings retained the batter, who hails from Karnataka, for INR 12 crore.
Agarwal has played in 47 games with the Kings and has a total of 1,317 runs. In the IPL, his sole century came against the Rajasthan Royals in 2020, when he scored 106 runs. In the 2021 season, he came agonizingly close to his second IPL century as he was not out on 99 against the Delhi Capitals.
2. Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow, one of the most aggressive hitters in the league in recent years. Was a prized commodity heading into the competition. In previous IPL seasons, the wicketkeeper batter had played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Bairstow was the subject of a bidding battle between PBKS and Sunrisers Hyderabad, with the wicketkeeper ultimately choosing Punjab.
3. Liam Livingstone
Liam Livingstone is now one of the most powerful batsmen in international cricket. He’s also improved his bowling and can now play at number four as an all-rounder.
Over the previous 12 months, Livingstone’s rise in white-ball cricket has been remarkable. He wasn’t always the chosen player in England’s starting XI. He earned a spot in the team by putting inconsistent performances in the absence of regular players.
Livingstone played in the T20 World Cup in the UAE. Make a big difference in the middle order for Punjab Kings.
4. Odean Smith
Odean Smith is one of the most recent recruits to the West Indies’ arsenal of pacers capable of striking the ball out of the ground at will. In the recently finished ODI series between India and the West Indies, the 25-year-old astonished everyone with his all-round abilities.
Smith was a member of the West Indies Under-19 team that won the World Cup in 2016. But he has only been around for about six months. Smith was the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2021.
5. Kagiso Rabada
Teams rushed to sign the 26-year-old, who played for the Delhi Capitals till the 2021 season, because of his ability to take wickets at any stage throughout the game.
On the Delhi side, Kagiso Rabada built a strong partnership with Anrich Nortje, but in the Punjab Kings XI, he will be on his own. If the pacer performs as expected, the team will have a successful season.
