Legendary West Indies batter, Chris Gayle has expressed his disappointment over Punjab Kings (PBKS) released Mayank Agarwal despite all the contributions he made for the former finalists over the years. Gayle said Agarwal is probably hurt after the Punjab-based franchise decided to release him ahead of the IPL 2023 auction.
Mayank Agarwal was the captain of PBKS after KL Rahul moved to Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022. The India opener had been one of the most consistent performers for PBKS in IPL, as he has amassed 1513 runs, including a hundred, in 60 matches between 2018 and 2022. Mayank even sacrificed his opening spot to make sure Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan opened the innings for PBKS midway through IPL 2022.
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However, they were not able to qualify for the playoffs yet again. PBKS announced Shikhar Dhawan as their new captain ahead of IPL 2023 auction as the team heads into the auction with a purse of INR 32.2 crore.
During a recent chat with PTI, Chris Gayle said, “Mayank will definitely get picked. I would be very disappointed if he doesn’t. Because he is such an explosive player. He has probably hurt within himself at not being retained by Punjab after what he sacrificed for the franchise and to be treated like that is disappointing but I hope teams still believe in him and give him good money. He is a fantastic team man as well.”
Shedding light on Punjab’s perennial failures, Chris Gayle said it’s hard to get into the top 4 with a side that doesn’t believe in consistency, saying the chopping and changing at PBKS is “Ridiculous”.
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Chris Gayle elaborated, “They chop and change man, it is ridiculous. You keep chopping and changing, they never have a set eleven whether you win a match. Sometimes they would go with the same team but so often players don’t feel comfortable. When they do get a chance and IPL is already pressure, so (with that sort of approach) you end putting more excessive pressure and with that you won’t see them flourishing within the game.”
Punjab Kings also sacked head coach Anil Kumble and appointed former English coach Trevor Bayliss ahead of the 2023 season.
