Despite being released by Punjab Kings, top-order batter Mayank Agarwal landed himself a new franchise in Sunrisers Hyderabad and commanded a winning bid of Rs 8.25 crore becoming one of the top buys at the IPL 2023 auction in Kochi on Friday. Agarwal, who captained PBKS during IPL 2022, struggled with the bat that saw the franchise sixth in the standings with seven wins and as many defeats.
Following that, the India cricketer was released by PBKS with Shikhar Dhawan named as their new captain. However, he drew quite an interest from several franchises and ended as the most expensive Indian player bought at the mini auction.
Also Read: Mehidy Hasan Spices Up Mirpur Test
PBKS also cut ties with the legendary Anil Kumble who was their coach after the season and the former India captain is very happy that Agarwal has been bought by SRH.
“Mayank has been the captain for Punjab and he was let go. I am really happy that he went to a team like Sunrisers. I think a new environment will certainly help Mayank and he is wonderful to have around the team,” said Kumble on JioCinema.
Agarwal has scored 4278 runs in 185 T20s at a strike-rate of 134.57 including two centuries and 25 half-centuries and is one of the top-performing Indian openers in IPL in recent years.
Also Read: Karthik Thinks Australia Test Series Could Decide Rahul’s Future
“I was partially nervous and excited, but I am glad to be part of SRH and really looking forward to working with (Muttiah) Muralitharan and (Brian) Lara, players with a lot of international experience and success,” Agarwal said.
Kumble quipped, “I don’t know how much Murali will be able to help Mayank with his batting, but Brian Lara is there.”
SRH broke the bank to buy rising England star Harry Brook for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore at the auction – the fourth costliest buy at the event after Sam Curran, Cameron Green and Ben Stokes.
Besides Agarwal and Brook, SRH also bought Adil Rashid, Heinrich Klaasen, Akeal Hosein, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Anmolpreet Singh.
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here
Comments
0 comment