After finishing sixth in the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL),  Punjab Kings (PBKS) entered the 2022 mega auction with the highest purse value of 72 crores after they retained only two players including Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh.

The franchise bagged up 23 players in the auction, including some big international stars for their squad including Kagiso Rabada, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone among some other big names.  Indian right-handed batter Mayank Agarwal has been given the responsibility  to lead Punjab Kings in the upcoming IPL 2022.

On that note, here are four first-choice overseas players of Punjab Kings:

1. Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)

South African ace pacer Kagiso Rabada was the first player to be purchased by PBKS in the mega auction. Rabada represented the Delhi Capitals (DC) in three IPL seasons, but DC released him ahead of the auction. With a base price of INR two crore, Rabada fetched a huge amount of INR 9.25 crore from the franchise. The 26-year old South African fast bowler had been performing exceedingly well for DC and will look to emulate his performance for the new franchise as well.

It is a well known fact that Punjab have underperformed in the last few seasons of the tournament and of the prominent reason for that has been lack of a good bowling attack. However, Rabada along with Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh will look to provide early breakthroughs for the franchise.

Talking about numbers, Rabada has scalped 76 wickets in 50 IPL games he has played. The right-arm pacer will has a decent strike rate of 15.0 going at an economy of 8.21. Rabada will be the first choice for PBKS to lead their bowling attack.

2. Jonny Bairstow (England)

Explosive batter Jonny Bairstow was another good pick by the Punjab Kings as they managed to purchase the English wicketkeeper-batter for an amount of INR 6.75 crores at the mega auction.  A bidding war took place between Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, PBKS  won the battle at the end. Bairstow has represented Sunrisers Hyderabad for the past three seasons and has provided  explosive starts for franchise along with his former partners David Warner and Kane Williamson.

Being a wicketkeeper, Bairstow can easily be slotted in any side as he is fit enough to keep and open the innings for his team as well. The wicketkeeper-batter has played 28 matches in the IPL and scored 1038 runs with an amazing strike rate of 142.19.

The 32-year old is one of the fastest batter to complete 1000 runs in the tournament history as well. Talking about his T20I career, Bairstow has represented England in 63 T20 matches and has amassed a total of 1190 runs at a good strike rate of 135.84.

3. Liam Livingstone (England)

Team England is among the top limited over cricket teams going around right now. One of the prominent reason for that is the firepower they possess in their batting order going from top to bottom. One of them is  Liam Livingstone who can tonk the ball really long and hard. As a result, as many as five franchises shown interest in the batter to rope him in the mega auction.

In the end, Punjab Kings managed to bag Livingstone at a heavy amount of INR 11.25 crores. The England allrounder became the costliest overseas player in the 2022 auction. The 28-year old is a multi-skill player as e can bat at the top or in the middle order.

Livingstone has also proved himself as a handy off-spinner and he is also a gun fielder. The 28-year old allrounder is a complete package for a team. Talking about his number in international arena, Livingstone has played 17 T20I matches in which he has scored 285 runs and has taken 13 wickets as well.

4. Odean Smith (West Indies)

West Indies have always produced some of the biggest hitters of ball and Odean Smith is one of the newest entrant in the list. The West Indian allrounder had shown his abilities in the recently completed ODI series against the men in blue. The 25-year old is a handy pace bowler and more than handy with the bat lower down the order.

In batting, Smith can do some proper damage to any bowling line-up.  That’s the reason, PBKS were keen on getting him in their team. The franchise spent INR six crore to secure the allrounder services and he will be one of the favorites to feature the starting line-up of PBKS.

Talking about his international career, Smith has played a total of 10 T20 matches for West Indies. Even though he has only managed to score 53 runs at an average of 10.6.  The right-handed batter has a massive strike rate of 155.88. In bowling, Smith has scalped a total of seven wickets for his country.