New Delhi, (Samajweekly) India opener Mayank Agarwal was on Monday handed over captaincy responsibilities ahead of the Indian Premier League 2022 for the Punjab Kings.
The 31-year-old Karnataka opener will lead the franchise in the coming season, taking over from state teammate K.L Rahul.
Mayank had a great season with the team in IPL 2021 too; amassing 441 runs in 12 matches at an impressive average of 40.09. He also possessed a strong strike rate of 140.28 throughout the season, creating some memorable moments for the team, and the fans.
With a superb performance as a batsman over the past few seasons, it will be interesting to see how Mayank performs now to the challenges of captaincy.
Interestingly, Punjab Kings are on the top of the list for the most number of captains in the IPL as Agarwal will be the 13th.
To start with, Punjab, then known as Kings XI Punjab, began with Yuvraj Singh as their captain in 2008. He continued till the end of the 2009 season before Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayewardene fulfilled the captaincy duties from 2010.
Whereas in 2012, David Hussey was their captain and in 2013 Adam Gilchrist took reigns of the perennial underachievers.
2014 turned out to be their best season as they reached the final that year under George Bailey after a fresh auction.
In 2015, Bailey continued but Virender Sehwag captained in some of the games.
In 2016, Punjab then started with South African David Miller and ended the season with Murali Vijay in charge in another disappointing season.
In 2017, Glenn Maxwell was handed over the captaincy duty for the full season but not before he was sacked from the team in 2018.
The musical chair of captaincy saw R Ashwin’s anointment as the new leader post his purchase at the auction.
Again, in 2021, they changed their captain and picked K.L Rahul to lead the side. Now, ahead of the 2022 season, Punjab appointed Agarwal.
So, in total, they have changed 13 captains so far. The team this year looks good on paper. However, Punjab have always been good on paper. But their records don’t look good.
They have been struggling to get a feel of’the coveted trophy.
Punjab’s performance in IPL
2008: Semi-finalists
2009: Group stage
2010: Group stage
2011: Group stage
2012: Group stage
2013: Group stage
2014: Runners-up
2015: Group stage
2016: Group stage
2017: Group stage
2018: Group stage
2019: Group stage
2020: Group stage
2021: Group stage
