IPL 2022 - Punjab Kings appointed Mayank Agarwal as Captain

With the 15th edition of IPL just around the corner, Punjab Kings announced Mayank Agarwal as the captain of the team starting from this season. Agarwal has served as Punjab Kings vice captain under the captaincy of KL Rahul, who has been signed by the new franchise Lucknow Super Giants for the IPL 2022 season.

The 31-year-old top order batsman has been with the Kings side since 2018. After the Kings bought Shikhar Dhawan in the IPL mega auction 2022, it was speculated that he might lead the side in this season but Punjab Kings has decided to go with Agarwal who has an experience of 47 matches from Punjab Kings team.

Mayank Agarwal has been part of the Indian Premier League since 2011 and has played for franchises like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), Rising Pune Supergiants before being signed by Punjab Kings.

Mayank Agarwal IPL Stats

In his last IPL outing, Agarwal played his 100th IPL match. In 100 matches, he has scored 2131 runs with a strike rate of 135.47. He has been a remarkable batsman for the Kings side so far, scoring a century in September, 2020 against Rajasthan Royals.

In the 2021 edition of IPL, Mayank Agarwal scored 441 runs in 12 matches with a highest score of 99*. He was at the 9th spot among the orange cap/highest runs list of the tournament. His knock of 99* came against Delhi Capitals when Mayank Agarwal led the team in the absence of KL Rahul.

Mayank Agarwal Retention by Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings franchise retained 2 players before the mega auction. They paid a whopping INR 12 crore for Mayank Agarwal along with INR 4 crore for pacer Arshdeep Singh. The team retained only 2 players and went into the IPL auction with 72 crore to revamp the team.

Statement by Anil Kumble

On Agarwal’s appointment as the captain, the head coach of Punjab Kings, Anil Kumble said, “Mayank has been an integral part of the side since 2018 and of the leadership group for the last two years. The new squad we selected at the recently concluded auction has exciting young talent and outstanding experienced players. We want to create a strong foundation for the future with Mayank at the helm.”

Punjab Kings IPL 2022 Squad

Punjab Kings have made full use of their hefty purse they saved for the auctions this year. Among their signings there are some of the top T20 players like Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, Odean Smith. They also purchased back Shahrukh Khan for INR 9 crore.

Punjab Kings Squad - Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal (c), Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odeon Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell