Punjab Kings CEO revealed what had made the franchise went for Shahrukh Khan in IPL auction for a whopping price. Satish Menon said that Shahrukh was on the list of Punjab Kings because of his domestic performance.
Punjab Kings on SRK
Punjab Kings were seen lobbying for Shahrukh Khan, the young domestic sensation and buying him for a massive Rs 5.25 crore in the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2021. While it was surprising to a few, the franchise was certain about the strategy. Satish Menon, PK CEO revealed, “Shahrukh Khan is a really exciting talent. A player we had a good look at from domestic tournaments. The way he recently played in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was a glimpse of what he is capable of and we are confident that he is someone who will be there for us for a long.”
Menon continued, “Shahrukh has the ability to finish games and we were looking at someone with similar traits. Really happy to get him.” Shahrukh Khan is famous as one of the best finishers in India’s domestic circuit. His unbeaten 40 off 19 balls in the quarterfinal of the tournament for Tamil Nadu against Himachal Pradesh was one of the highlights of this year. even the Tamil Nadu coach D Basu believes, “He is a game-changer and a match-winner.”
Preity Zinta speaks on uncapped talents
Speaking about investing on domestic uncapped talents, Preity Zinta, the co-owner of Punjab Kings said, “There’s a lot of research that goes behind it. You literally have to pick players that fit your slots, all the weaknesses you had in the previous years, you try to make your strengths in the coming auction.” She sounded excited about taking Dawid Malan on board and commented, We got really, really lucky with him.”
However, Preity Zinta wants to focus on this season primarily especially with a mega auction scheduled for next year. “But yes, there is going to be a big auction next year, they’re going to be different rules for it so we don’t know yet… So we’re taking it as this particular season and see how things go.”