Kings XI Punjab made the most of their opportunities on the opening day of the VIVO Indian Premier League auction on Saturday, firmly fending off all the curveballs thrown at them.

The Punjab think tank managed to bag four marquee players after a bidding-battle with rival teams only to lose them to the 'Right to Match' card.

But KXIP managed to recover from the knock-back owing to the balance of 67.5 crore in the kitty, the joint-highest ahead of the auction, allowing them some aggressive bids early on.

"We were lucky that we had a full purse this time," Zinta told the media after the auction. "We had a strategy in place. In previous auctions, we waited in the beginning to get players and if we didn't get them, we used to get stuck. Hence we had to get other players. It didn’t always work out. So this time we decided to go for the players we like from right the beginning."

Although they lost their bids for Shikhar Dhawan, Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane, Dwayne Bravo and Rashid Khan to RTMs, they did manage to get off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on board.

"Ashwin brings in a lot to our side," Zinta pointed out. "We really made an effort to get certain players who would keep the team's balance and to have the right mix of youth and experience. The young guns are crucial when you go and fight in the middle."

Another prize catch was Yuvraj Singh, who returns to Punjab after he last played for them in 2010. The southpaw had started his IPL career with the Kings in 2008 and is now back in the side a decade later.

"We are really excited to have Yuvi back. In the first season, he was our icon player and since then we had never managed to get him," Zinta exulted. "We are just really happy that Yuvraj is back home."