With the 2022 edition of the Indian 20 League slated to start next month, Bangalore and Punjab are the only two sides, who have not named their captain for the upcoming tournament. However, it is now very likely that Indian opener Mayank Agarwal will be leading the Punjab side. The franchise is likely to make the announcement made very soon
It is to be noted that Punjab successfully managed to purchase another Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan, at a cost of INR 8.25 crore in the 2022 mega auction. It was no secret that there will be a decision to choose between Agarwal and Dhawan to lead the franchise. However, now it seems that the right-handed batsman has managed to pip Dhawan for the captaincy race.
The right-handed Indian opener had joined Punjab in 2018. However, he showed his true colours in 2020 ITL, where he scored 424 runs from 11 matches at an average of 38.54 and a strike rate of 156.45. The Karnataka-based player has been involved in several vital partnerships with his former franchise skipper KL Rahul in the past.
“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 was quoted by Times of India. Mayank has led the franchises before in the absence of KL Rahul.
Punjab Kings’ squad for IPL 2022: 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
