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Punjab Kings Head of Cricket Development Sanjay Bangar decoded their decision to sign Indian pacer Harshal Patel as well as England all-rounder Chris Woakes during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction.
PBKS acquired the services of Harshal and Woakes for Rs 11.75 crore and Rs 4.2 crore respectively. Woakes attracted bids from Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings and came with a base price of Rs 2 crore. While a big bidding war took place for Harshal. On both occasions, PBKS emerged victorious and Bangar explained the reason to go after both players. "Woakes covers two positions for us - Curran and Rabada. Having an Indian seamer is of immense value. Harshal bowls through the middle and death overs. It gives us an option of using Harshal as an Impact Player. That was the thinking behind acquiring both Woakes and Harshal," Bangar said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo. While PBKS looked to fill holes in their squad, Gujarat Titans were out to find a replacement for Hardik Pandya who left the franchise before the auction. They acquired Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai and Indian pacer Umesh Yadav for Rs 50 Lakhs and Rs 5.80 crore. GT Director of Cricket, Vikram Solanki talked about their picks and said, "I wouldn't call anybody a steal. That's disrespectful to that player to some extent. We value Omarzai and Umesh. You focus on skill sets than players at an auction. We got two players that we had in our pre-planning and we're looking forward to them joining us." (ANI)
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