Mayank Agarwal axed from Punjab Kings’ captaincy; Shikhar Dhawan to replace
Things are looking bleak for Karnataka-based Mayank Agarwal. The Indian player was removed from captaincy in the Indian Premier League team Punjab Kings. Shikhar Dhawan replaces him in that role. This move was approved by their franchise board and backed Trevor Bayliss, their new coach, on Wednesday.
Agarwal has not been among the runs. In IPL 2022, his return were terrible. He scored just 196 runs in 13 matches at an average of 16.33. The team didn’t do very well either. Kings ended the season in sixth place.
Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan has a lot of experience in the captaincy role. He has led Sunrisers Hyderabad and the national squad quite often. Dhawan, who has been leading the national side in the absence of star players like Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, has been doing a fabulous job. In the IPL too, he has always been scoring tons of runs every season. He is the second-most highest runs scorer in the list of Most runs scored in IPL.
Mayank was one of the two retentions of the franchise last year, and it was for Rs. 14 crores. The India opener scored 196 runs in 13 innings at an average of 16.33. In contrast, Bairstow had scored 253 runs in 11 games at an average of 23. Dhawan was the team’s highest scorer. He scored 460 runs in 14 matches at an average of 32.85.
It now remains to be seen whether Punjab Kings will retain or release Mayank Agarwal. All the IPL teams have until November 15 to submit a list of the players they want to keep ahead of the next IPL.