Both Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were on Punjab Kings’ radar

Punjab Kings performance analyst Saurabh Walkar (left) with head coach Ricky Ponting during the IPL player auction in Jeddah recently. Pic/Saurabh Walkar`s personal collection

Though Punjab Kings succeeded in getting attacking batsman Shreyas Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore during tbhe IPL auction in Jeddah, star wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was also on their wish list, revealed the team's performance analyst Saurabh Walkar.

"We wanted to go for either Shreyas or Rishabh because both are marquee players and captaincy candidates. We thought that if we gave up on Shreyas and if Rishabh goes out of our budget then we might lose out on Rishabh also," Walkar told mid-day.com from Jeddah on Tuesday.

Ultimately Pant emerged the costliest IPL cricketer when Lucknow Super Giants bid Rs 27 crore which Punjab bought Mumbai man Iyer, this year's IPL-winning Kolkata Knight Riders captain for Rs 26.75 crore.

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Walkar admitted that it is tough to plan for a certain cricketer. He said: "Practically no one can plan certain things when names of the first few players appear for the auction in the first round. If Rishabh's name appeared before Shreyas, we had to go for him. It's all about how you try to get a team combination."

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Mumbai-based Walkar, who earlier worked with New Zealand team during the 2023 ODI World Cup, spoke of new PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting's involvement.

"Ponting was deeply involved in the process even ahead of the auction. We spent so many hours of discussions. Though he was driving the ship during the auction, he gave everyone freedom and direction," he added.