Punjab Kings Captain: Stylish Indian batter Mayank Agarwal is likely to take the role of the captaincy of the franchise Punjab Kings, an IPL source told PTI on Wednesday. He was one of the two players alongside young pacer Arshdeep Singh that Punjab Kings (PBKS) had retained ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auctions that were held in Bengaluru on February 12 & 13.
While PBKS retained Mayank, there were speculations that he also became the leading contender for taking the role side’s captaincy.
“In all likelihood, Mayank will captain the side. The announcement is expected later this week. Dhawan is a welcome addition to the side and was always on the radar at the auction. He is a champion player but it seems Punjab were keen on Mayank as captain ever since K L Rahul left the team,” an IPL source told PTI.
PBKS skipper KL Rahul, who led the side since 2020 and failed to inspire the side to the playoffs in all the seasons under his captaincy. He had replaced his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin as the skipper of the franchise after the off-spinner joined Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2020.
Rahul finished as the leading scorer of the side in both seasons, but the entire unit’s performance failed to take off and finished outside the playoffs under his captaincy. Rahul will now lead the new franchise Lucknow Super Giants in the forthcoming 15th edition of IPL that will get underway from the last week of March.
Mayank pips Dhawan for captaincy role
Mayank Agarwal does not have much experience of captaincy and only led the PBKS side once during a game in IPL 2021 season. He betters Shikhar Dhawan, who was once the full-time skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad side. Moreover, Dhawan also captained the Indian cricket team for the Sri Lanka tour in 2021 which they won comfortably. PBKS spent Rs 8.25 crore on Day 1 of the IPL 2022 mega auctions to acquire the southpaw.
Punjab Kings squad: Mayank Agarwal, Prerak Mankad, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Benny Howell, Baltej Singh, Ansh Patel, Liam Livingstone, Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Odean Smith, Raj Bawa, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Writtick Chatterjee, Sandeep Sharma, Nathan Elis, Vaibhav Arora, Ishan Porel, Rahul Chahar
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