Last Update on: November 6th, 2022 at 02:16 pm
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IPL 2023 Auction: 3 Punjab Kings (PBKS) Players Mumbai Indians (MI) Can Target. The IPL franchises have until November 15 to submit the list of retained and released players before the IPL 2023 mini-auction.
Mumbai Indians (MI) had an IPL 2022 season to forget and with only 4 wins from 14 matches, the Rohit Sharma-led side finished at the last spot in the points table. Since there was a mega auction this year, the franchise couldn’t retain the services of the majority of its players and brought in fresh faces.
The likes of Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, and Fabian Allen may be released by the franchise along with misfiring Kieron Pollard and IPL 2022’s biggest buy Ishan Kishan, though the last two may also be retained for IPL 2023.
After the IPL 2022 mega auction, the cricket legends weighted Punjab Kings among the probable teams to reach the playoff and even win the IPL trophy. The reason was that they had a very good team comprising a bunch of talented utility players who could single-handedly win matches for the franchise.
But, after the IPL league stage finished, the Mayank Agarwal-led team found themselves packing their bags with just 7 wins from 14 matches, finishing the IPL 2022 points table in the 6th position. There will be a lot of brainstorming from now leading up to the 16th edition of the IPL. The likes of Shahrukh Khan, Benny Howell, Sandeep Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, and even IPL 2022 skipper Mayank Agarwal may be released by the franchise before IPL 2023.
Veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has been confirmed as the new captain of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) franchise for the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League IPL 2023 on Wednesday. Shikhar Dhawan, who is not a part of the Indian T20 World Cup 2022 squad and is considered an ODI specialist and ODI skipper will replace another opener Mayank Agarwal as the leader of the Punjab-based franchise in the IPL 2023.
IPL 2023 Auction: 3 Punjab Kings (PBKS) Players Mumbai Indians (MI) Can Target
Mayank Agarwal
Before the start of IPL 2022, Punjab Kings had named Mayank Agarwal as their captain after KL Rahul left the franchise for Lucknow Super Giants. The change in captaincy, however, did not change Punjab’s fortunes as they failed to do well once again. With 7 wins and as many losses, the Punjab-based outfit finished at the 6th spot and failed to make it to the playoffs.
The burden of captaincy had a bad effect on Mayank Agarwal’s batting too. After scoring more than 400 runs in each of the previous two seasons (424 runs in IPL 2020 and 441 runs in IPL 2021), the right-handed batsman could score only 196 runs in IPL 2022. He scored his runs at a poor average of 16.33 and a strike rate of 122.5.
With Punjab enduring yet another poor season, a recent report suggested that the franchise was likely to remove Mayank Agarwal as the captain. If the 31-year-old is axed as captain and from the team, MI might bid for him as the franchise wants an Indian opener in IPL 2023 squad.