Kings XI Punjab were clearly the most entertaining team during auction for this season's VIVO Indian Premier League on the opening day on Saturday.

From our enthusiastic participation to the ever-frustrating 'Right to Match' cards, we were always in the thick of things, with team promoter Preity Zinta becoming the face of the proceedings.

But behind the entertainment was a strategy that ensured the Kings march into the new season with a solid line-up.

It could have been even stronger had the 'Right to Match' cards, raised on five occasions against KXIP, not limited the table's well-thought and reasonable bids.

The aggressive bidding approach helped, negating what could have been the ill-effects of other failed bids. These certainly caught everyone's eye as we bid on about a third of the players named during the day!

Our approach paid off as we managed to rope in some big names, with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin being the first of the big bags

We may hail from the north but we scoured the south, with three players from the state of Karnataka joining Ashwin. They comprised record-setters and recent domestic top-performers.

The overseas players were a good pick too.

Some players weren't retained, but those decisions - even if unpopular - were strategic.

But some did return. And nothing was more popular than the return of the prodigal son that is Yuvraj Singh.

More entertainment awaits on Sunday as the remaining players from the pool go under the hammer.