Batting great Sunil Gavaskar has fired a warning to Punjab Kings new captain Mayank Agarwal as he feels it is not going to be an easy task for the Indian opener. Mayank was named the captain of the franchise over veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan. Punjab failed to retain their former captain KL Rahul as the player wanted a new challenge and join the new franchise Lucknow Super Giants. With the new season, PBKS are probably one of the few teams which will enter the tournament with almost a complete overhaul.
Gavaskar claims that Punjab is the one team who have failed to do justice to their talent in the past.
“It is not going to be easy. They are one team, who over the years, have not done justice to their talent. The reasons, we don’t know. In T20 format, it is just that sometimes you need that element of luck. But they are the team who can only get better because, if I’m not wrong they are yet to reach the finals (they reached in 2014). So there is that incentive in front of them, to make the knockouts or the finals. And who knows, once they get there, they could take the trophy home,” he said.
After IPL 2014, this is the first time when Punjab are looking solid on the papers as they have covered almost every base with the signing of Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan.
It is going to be an uphill task for Mayank to lead a side that has not won a trophy. After joining Punjab in 2018, Mayank has been an integral part of the franchise’s set-up and has produced several match-winning performances. He has scored 1,317 runs for Punjab so far but this time he has an added responsibility on his shoulders.
Punjab will start their IPL 2022 campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore on March 27 at DY Patil Stadium.
Get all the latest updates on Cricket News, Cricket Photos, Cricket Videos, IPL Auction 2022 and Cricket Scores here