Punjab Kings (PBKS) would have obviously wanted KL Rahul to be retained as their first choice player as he is arguably India’s best T20 batsman at this stage, but once KL decided he didn’t want to play for the franchise any further, it was a straightforward call thereafter for Punjab to retain Mayank Agarwal as they wanted a solid domestic Indian opening batsman and also a potential leader.
But, after Mayank, Punjab had the option of retaining a couple of very dynamic uncapped domestic performers, Shahrukh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi. Shahrukh only recently won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Tamil Nadu with a last-ball six against Karnataka in the final, and is regarded as one of the best-uncapped power finishers in the country.
One of the reasons it might not have been possible for Punjab to retain Shahrukh is that he was on a contract of over 5 crore INR with them and since he was an uncapped player if he had to be retained, he would have been retained for only 4 crore INR which meant he had to take a pay cut. Shahrukh might have thought he would fetch a much larger sum of money if he goes into the auction again and might have turned the retention offer down.
Ravi Bishnoi could have been a trump card for PBKS
But, the big strategic error that PBKS made was to let the leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi go. Bishnoi is someone who is a quickish leg spinner, in the mould of Rashid Khan, and those types of leg spinners are being very successful around the world in T20 cricket these days. Bishnoi was not contracted at an amount where he would have had to take a pay cut to be retained as an uncapped player. It’s less likely that he would have denied a retention offer.
For PBKS to let go of Ravi Bishnoi and lose the opportunity of having a quality domestic leg spinner in the squad, it’s a decision that is hard to fathom, considering they will have to spend much more money in the auction now, if they want to get a similar kind of resource from the capped players.
