A few days back, Punjab Kings (PBSK) confirmed that Shikhar Dhawan will lead their side in the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Preity Zinta & Ness Wadia co-owned franchise seems to be eyeing a major overhaul ahead of IPL 2023, as apart from a new captain, a new coach and new members of the support staff, they are set to release some big names before heading into the players’ auction in December.
Since there is no limit on the retention list, PBKS are expected to retain 10-15 players from their current squad and will target a few, mainly the overseas players, who could help them perform better than they did in the last IPL season.
According to several reports, the Mohali-based franchise is eyeing to release three expensive buys – Mayank Agarwal (INR 12 crore), Shahrukh Khan (INR 9 crore) and Odean Smith (INR 6 crore) – so that they will enter the mini-auction with a big purse.
Under Mayank’s captaincy, Punjab endured a dismal IPL 2022 campaign. They finished the league stage in sixth position, with just seven wins out of 14 games. Mayank even failed to perform with the bat in the last IPL edition, managing only 196 runs from 12 innings at an abysmal average of 16.33.
The likes of Shahrukh and Smith also failed to live up to the management’s expectations and were dropped from the playing XI after a few matches.
Charl Langeveldt and Brad Haddin have joined head coach Trevor Bayliss as part of the new support staff for PBKS.
Bayliss is keen on roping in two overseas all-rounders among Ben Stokes, Cameron Green and Sam Curran at the auction; therefore, Punjab are believed to be contemplating releasing players, namely Mayank, Shahrukh and Odean.
