The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to commence from the last week of March. Before that, the mega auctions will be held on 12th and 13th February in Bengaluru. All the 10 teams look all prepared for the mega event as they look to build a team for the next 3 years. While the eight already existing franchises announced their player retention list way back in November the two new franchises came up with their draft picks recently.
On the retention list of the eight franchises, there were a few surprises for the fans. One of the major surprises was Mayank Agrawal being retained for 15 crores. The Punjab Kings management went with Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh as their only two retentions. With Agrawal getting such a large amount, cricket experts started speculating that Agarwal may be handed the leadership role for the Punjab-based franchise in absence of KL Rahul.
However, a latest report suggests otherwise. A Punjab Kings official has said that they are not hurrying at handing the leadership role to Agarwal, and they want to wait for the auction to take place.
The official said that they have plenty of time left to decide on the captain for the Punjab-based franchise. He also added that the management wants to see how the auction goes and then take a final verdict on the leadership role for Punjab. “We have a lot of time left. There is no hurry to announce the captain yet. We will see how the auction goes and then take a call on the captaincy. Mayank is always an option, but we will wait for the auction,” said the Punjab kings official.
Who are Punjab Kings waiting for?
After spending such a big amount on Agarwal, PBKS may have given Mayank-the captain, a thought. The Karnataka opener has done well on the limited occasions he has gotten. However, PBKS does not want to repeat their mistakes from the past. They want someone who has already captained an IPL team and Shreyas Iyer is a hot favorite. A few reports have claimed that Iyer is on PBKS management’s radar.
