Punjab Kings (PBKS) new Captain in Tata IPL 2022: The Punjab Kings (PBKS) has been the most unfortunate franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In fact, PBKS is one of the three IPL teams that has featured in every IPL season since the inception of the tournament and never won a title.
The franchise, which was earlier known as ‘Kings XI Punjab’, choose to rebrand the team ahead of the IPL 2021. Punjab Kings (PBKS) name was adopted in the IPL 2021, however, that also couldn’t bring change in the fortunes as the team again failed to reach playoffs.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) sustained a massive blow as their premier batsman and captain KL Rahul decided to part ways with the franchise and try out other opportunities. During the retention process, Rahul was dropped from PBKS, though the franchise wanted to have his services.
In the Tata IPL 2022 Player Retentions, Punjab retained the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh. With just two retentions, PBKS will be highly active in the upcoming IPL 2022 Mega Auction and will try to acquire big-time match-winners in the team.
Ahead of the fifteenth edition of the IPL, PBKS have already lost their skipper and in this article, we will take a look at some of the possible options to be Punjab Kings (PBKS) new Captain in the Tata IPL 2022.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) new Captain in Tata IPL 2022:
Mayank Agarwal:
Talented opener batsman Mayank Agarwal will be one of the probable candidates for Punjab Kings (PBKS) to lead the team. Probably, Agarwal would be one of the easiest options as the franchise has already retained his services during the recent player retention for INR 12 Crores.
Besides KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal is the only player who has consistently performed for the team. Often Agarwal used to be the initiator of the destruction and scored the bulk of runs for PBKS in the powerplay overs.
In KL Rahul’s absence, Mayank Agarwal has also led the franchise in the past. Moreover, he is a quick learner of the game who can be utilised as the captain in future.
PBKS appointed him deputy of KL Rahul and by general judgement, he should be the one to captain the team after Rahul’s exit. Mayank Agarwal also has a productive synergy with the franchise and its management which would help him glue the entire squad together.
Talking about his batting stats in the recently concluded IPL 2021, Agarwal plundered 441 runs at an impressive average of 40.09 and maintained a healthy strike rate of 140.44.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) should consider Mayank Agarwal as a potent captaincy option and he can solve a long term captaincy headache for the management.
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David Warner:
The cricket pundits rate Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH’s) move to leave out David Warner as an extremely disgusting decision. Warner had an upsetting fallout with the franchise during the IPL 2021 where he got sacked from his captaincy and then comprehensively got removed from the team.
The fallout could be due to Warner’s poor run of form, but as they say – Form is temporary, Class is permanent – Warner returned back to his sublime touch in the very next ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and became the player of the tournament.
From a batting perspective, Warner is a must-buy for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) as the franchise has always found itself surrounded by exciting talent with little international exposure. David Warner brings composure and vivid experience with himself which will be helpful for the youngsters in the team.
Moreover, his prowess as the captain of the side is also exceptional. He led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to its only IPL title back in 2016. His win percentage as the skipper is also encouraging. Warner took his team over the winning rope on 52 per cent of occasions.
Also under Warner’s captaincy, SRH reached the playoff two times barring the one in which SRH won the IPL.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) would be happy to take his services and value his past contributions. If he becomes available, Warner is surely going to break the banks of several teams in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction.
Eoin Morgan:
The other captaincy option would be England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan. Punjab Kings (PBKS) need an exceptional leader and Morgan has all the required traits of an exceptional captain.
The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper, Eoin Morgan, was fantastic with his captaincy in the recently concluded IPL 2021. Though his batting became an area of concern, his apt captaincy was admired by everyone.
He raised KKR from penultimate position to the runner-ups in the IPL 2021. Moreover, Morgan recently took his national side, England, to ICC T20 World Cup 2021 semifinals.
Morgan’s T20I stats would encourage IPL franchises to consider him as a valuable player. Though his IPL records as a batsman aren’t amazing, he can certainly prove his worth in gold with a new opportunity.
Eoin Morgan has represented Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the past and the southpaw can possibly return to the Mohali based franchise in the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Englishmen would also be eager to bounce back in the lucrative T20 league and improve his tattered batting stats.
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