IPL 2022: Up And Ready For Punjab Kings’ Captaincy Responsibility, But Not Thinking About It – Mayank Agarwal

Punjab Kings retained opener, Mayank Agarwal, ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction with the idea of making him the captain. Since KL Rahul opted to leave the franchise, PBKS retained Agarwal and he could well be made the captain.

However, even though he is ready for the challenge, it is not running on his mind at the moment. Agarwal is part of the Indian Test squad that will face off against Sri Lanka at home.

“Obviously, if I am made the captain, I am totally up and ready for the responsibility but I will do everything that is required of me as a player if demanded. Whether I am made the captain or not, whatever responsibilities are given, whatever will be demanded of me everything will be done from my side,” Agarwal told MensXP.

Having played around Rahul, Agarwal will have the experience required to take up the captaincy role. If asked by the franchise, he has no qualms in leading the side.

“I am not too stressed about it. I’m not really thinking about it. If given the opportunity, I’m ready for it and looking forward to taking the responsibility and if not, I’m still looking to give everything that I have and take any role that is given by the franchise,” he added.

Aside from Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh was retained by the PBKS franchise. They also made quality buys at the IPL 2022 mega auction, with Liam Livingstone being the most expensive player. Shahrukh Khan was bought for INR 10.75 crores as well which made him the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history.

Following the disappointing end to their IPL 2021 season, when Punjab Kings decided against retaining KL Rahul and secured Agarwal as the only capped player to be a part of their franchise during the 2022 season, all eyes were on the latter to become the next captain for Punjab Kings.

Also Read: IPL 2022: IPL Franchises Object To Mumbai Indians’ Home Advantage At Wankhede Stadium- Reports

After all, he looked in top form, scored a total of 441 runs in the 12 matches he played with an average of 40.9, and an amazing strike rate of 140.44 throughout the season. He smashed 4 half-centuries and missed out on getting a ton by just one run during his unbeaten inning against Delhi Capitals in a loss.

And then came the IPL 2022 mega auction which created a lot more confusion around the future of the PBKS leadership than there was before. Although the decision-makers made some excellent picks during the auction and now boast a far better composition of young and experienced players than they did last year, the discussion around Agarwal becoming the next skipper has once again returned to square one.

While fans and various critics have suggested that since Mayank has the strongest relationship with the team management and has shown great form consistently for the last three seasons, he deserves the position. 

However, ever since the auction, multiple reports have spurred all over the Indian cricket fraternity suggesting that Shikhar Dhawan, the veteran batter who was recently purchased for Rs. 8.25 crore, is at the forefront of the race to PBKS captaincy.

IPL 2022: Punjab Kings needed to retain KL Rahul however respect his determination to enter public sale, says Anil Kumble

Legendary leg-spinner and Punjab Kings coach Anil Kumble on Tuesday mentioned the previous finalists needed to retain their former captain KL Rahul however they respect his determination to enter the public sale pool forward of IPL 2022.

Punjab Kings introduced solely 2 gamers for retention on the November 30 deadline and KL Rahul’s absence was actually a shock. PBKS retained Mayank Agarwal for Rs 14 crore and uncapped left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh for Rs 4 crore.Speculation was rife that PBKS had been negotiating with Rahul however the India opener needed to maneuver away from the franchise forward of the mega public sale.IPL 2022 Retention: Highlights | Full ListKL Rahul will be picked by one of many two new groups because the Ahmedabad and Lucknow franchises have time till December 25 to call their selection of three gamers every. If Rahul doesn’t get picked by the 2 new groups, he’ll head to the mega public sale whereby he can be a sizzling decide.“Of course, the major challenge for us was Rahul. Obviously, we wanted to retain him. That’s one of the reasons we chose him as captain 2 years ago, so he could be the core of the team. But he decided to go into the auction, we respect that decision. It’s the players’ prerogative,” Anil Kumble mentioned.Rahul has been a constant performer within the IPL, scoring greater than 600 runs in three of the final 4 seasons of IPL. However, Rahul was not capable of lead PBKS to the play-offs with the remainder of the staff failing to again their captain’s efforts with the bat on the sector.KUMBLE HINTS MAYANK COULD BE THE NEW PBKS CAPTAINMeanwhile, Kumble hinted that Mayank Agarwal would possibly lead PBKS in IPL 2022 and heaped reward on younger Arshdeep Singh, saying the left-arm pacer’s skill to deal with stress in crunch conditions compelled the franchise to retain him.“I think when it comes to Mayank, the last 3 to 4 years, he has been with us, he has done exceptionally well for us. In the two years, I have been involved with the franchise, he has been very, very successful. Of course, he is again a potential leader. He has been around the IPL and international cricket for a long time,” Kumble added.“Regarding Arshdeep Singh, he has someone who has come up in the last two years I have been involved in Punjab. He is only 21, to show that kind of maturity and temperament, we wanted to ensure he stayed with the franchise for a long period of time,” he added.PBKS will head into the mega public sale with the largest purse of Rs 72 crore after retaining solely 2 gamers earlier than the deadline.

Punjab Kings squad for IPL 2022:

Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Benny Howell.