"This is the team who have done the No. 1 auction" - Aakash Chopra lauds Rajasthan Royals for their buys on Day 1 of IPL 2022 Auction

Aakash Chopra believes Rajasthan Royals (RR) made the best buys among all the participating teams on Day 1 of the IPL 2022 Auction.

The inaugural IPL champions had retained Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal going into the mega auction. They added eight more players to their squad on Day 1 of the auction to cover most of their bases.

While reviewing the first day's auction, in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra showered high praise for the Royals, explaining:

"The Rajasthan Royals still have 12 crores. They have got Devdutt Padikkal, Ashwin, Boult, Yuzi Chahal, Shimron Hetmyer and Prasidh Krishna. This is the team who have done the No. 1 auction, according to me."

The former India player added that the sum paid for Riyan Parag was probably the only unwise call by the Rajasthan Royals. Chopra said:

"They have got the pieces together. The one surprising buy was Riyan Parag, but other than him, I think everything was okay."

Parag was bought by the Royals for Rs 3.8 crore. Prasidh Krishna was their most expensive pick, for whom they dished out Rs 10 crore.

---

"Punjab Kings have aced it so far" - Aakash Chopra

Punjab Kings could not retain KL Rahul ahead of the IPL 2022 auction [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra picked the Punjab Kings as one of the other franchises to stand out on Day 1 of the IPL 2022 auction. He reasoned:

"Punjab Kings have aced it so far. They still have more than 28 crores. They have spent extremely well. They have taken Shikhar Dhawan with Mayank Agarwal; your two openers are set; you have got Jonny Bairstow as a keeper-batter. You already have Shahrukh Khan in the middle order; a lot of people are yet to come."

The renowned commentator pointed out that the IPL 2014 finalists have picked a well-rounded squad so far. Chopra elaborated:

"In bowling, they already have Rahul Chahar. They have taken Kagiso Rabada; they already retained Arshdeep. They have picked Ishan Porel, I think they have done it. Harpreet Brar - in my opinion, Punjab has done exceedingly well in this auction thus far."

Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals were Aakash Chopra's two other picks who did a very good job on Day 1 of the IPL 2022 auction.