IPL 2022: Mayank Agarwal appointed Punjab Kings captain for IPL 15

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Mohali, February 28: Mayank Agarwal on Monday (February 28) was appointed as the captain of Punjab Kings ahead of the IPL 2022.

It was almost certain that Mayank will lead Punjab as he became their first retained player ahead of the IPL 2022 auction.

Punjab had also retained young pacer Arshdeep Singh while letting go all others including KL Rahul, their IPL 2021 skipper.

PBKS ready for IPL 2022: Wadia

Punjab Kings co-owner feels they have done half the job by picking a "well-rounded" squad at the recent ( ) auction and hopes the chosen players will do the rest to help the franchise bag the elusive trophy.

Punjab Kings have under-performed since IPL's inception, reaching the final only once in 14 attempts. They blew hot and cold in the last three seasons to end up sixth out of eight teams.

They went into the mega auction with the maximum purse of Rs 72 crore out of the 10 teams, which doesn't provide any guarantee for a successful buying spree due in a highly dynamic environment, but their decisions were largely lauded by the pundits.

"50% of the battle is getting the right team, which is what we've done. Now it's up to the players, coaches Anil (Kumble), Jonty (Rhodes) and Damien (Wright), to really take us to that elusive title we have been waiting for so long. "Or at least a place in the top four play-offs because we have had a bad run the last four-five years," Wadia told PTI.

In recent seasons, Punjab struggled with power hitting in the middle-order and death bowling.

"We have well balanced squad now. We bat all the way down to eight or nine and have the bowlers who can do the job both upfront and at the death.

"I would say this was the toughest and most successful auction for us since the first edition in 2008," said Wadia comparing the current squad to the 2008 batch which had the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Brett Lee and Irfan Pathan.