Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has shared his choice of the player who he thinks is the perfect choice to lead the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the upcoming IPL 2022 season.
The team with the highest purse in the IPL 2022 mega auction, Punjab Kings (PBKS) made 23 picks during the two-day event and spent the most money on all-rounder Liam Livingstone. The England all-rounder joined the franchise for INR 11.50 crore. Shahrukh Khan (INR 9 crores) and Kagiso Rabada (INR 9.25 crores) were among the others who joined the team for a huge amount.
PBKS is also looking for a new captain as KL Rahul moved to Lucknow Super Giants. Rahul, who had joined the team in 2018, led them in 2020 and 2021. The franchise wanted to retain him but he decided to move on.
PBKS have the choice in the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, and Jonny Bairstow amongst others to make captain, but Sunil Gavaskar made some sound reasoning as he picked Mayank Agarwal as his choice of next PBKS captain.
"I will look at the future, and I look at Mayank Agarwal. Because I do believe that Mayank has got leadership qualities. He speaks well, he is a hardworking individual. He wants to get better than yesterday. He is very very very enthusiastic. He is a real team man. We can see that when he is playing for India.
He is always ready to hop on to the field, even when he isn't in the XI. So every aspect I think, Mayank Agarwal is somebody Punjab Kings should look as captain. And who knows, he could be considered in the future for national captaincy if he is consistent with his performances," Gavaskar told Sports Today.
Mayank Agarwal was retained by the PBKS franchise along with Arshdeep Singh ahead of the IPL 2022 auction. However, he has captained the team only once in IPL, while Shikhar Dhawan has previous experience of captaincy, having led Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals in the tournament, apart from having captained India in July last year.
