Punjab Kings (PBKS) retained two players, Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, from their previous squad for the upcoming IPL season. They had to let go of their captain KL Rahul after he opted to go back into the auction pool.

Punjab bought Rahul for a whopping Rs 11 crore ahead of the 2018 season and they had appointed him captain in IPL 2020 after his predecessor, R Ashwin, was traded to Delhi Capitals.

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Rahul thanked the franchise for their love in a tweet on Wednesday (November 1) and wrote, "It was a good ride, thank you for the love, see you on the other side @PunjabKingsIPL".

Earlier, Anil Kumble, the Director of Cricket Operations PBKS clarified that the franchise wanted to retain Rahul for the IPL 2022 but he himself decided to go into the auction pool.

"KL has been the fulcrum for us in the last four years, and the last two years in the time that I have been with Punjab, he has been the captain. Obviously, we wanted to retain him and continue with him to be the focus for Punjab. But he decided that he wanted to go back to auction," Kumble had said in a video posted on iplt20.com.

"And the rules of the IPL before a big auction is that the player decides whether he wants to be retained or wants to go back. So we respect that, hopefully, he will be a part of that auction and let us see what happens," he added.

(With ANI Inputs)