Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan has been named the new captain of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) franchise ahead of the IPL 2023 and he will replace Mayank Agarwal at the helm, the franchise announced on November 2, 2022.
This change comes after PBKS went in for a new coach with Trevor Bayliss replacing Anil Kumble after three years of being in charge.
Dhawan, 36, will take over from Agarwal who was appointed captain just before IPL 2022. Agarwal was one of two players - Arshdeep Singh being the other - who had been retained by Kings ahead of the mega auction, where Dhawan was the first player they bought.
Shikhar Dhawan was bought by the PBKS franchise for INR 8.25 crores in the IPL 2022 mega auction after the left-hander parted ways with the Delhi Capitals franchise. He had a stellar 2020 season where he scored 618 runs at a strike rate of nearly 145 including two back-to-back centuries.
Mayank Agarwal joined the PBKS in IPL 2018 and forged a terrific opening combination with then-captain KL Rahul. Agarwal was named captain after Rahul parted ways with the franchise before the IPL 2022 auction and his elevation up from the ranks coincided with a dip in form though. Agarwal scored just 196 runs in 13 matches at an average of 16.33.
Shikhar Dhawan has had a lot of experience in captaincy, as he had led the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Punjab Kings in stand-in capacities and has been captaining the second string Indian ODI sides and will lead them in the three ODI series against New Zealand later this month.
Overall, in IPL, Dhawan has captained 11 times (ten at Sunrisers in 2014 and one for Kings last year) with four wins and seven losses.
Now, it remains to be seen whether Mayank Agarwal is retained by the PBKS franchise or not as was done ahead of IPL 2022. Kings settled with Agarwal to pay him a salary of INR 12 crore, as per the IPL retention rules, 18 crores was deducted from their overall purse - 14 crores for Agarwal and 4 crores for Arshdeep, who was uncapped at the time.
Franchises have until November 15 to submit a list of the players they want to keep ahead of the next IPL.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
