Why did Punjab Kings drop Mayank Agarwal from the team? This reason came to the fore

Sanjay Manjrekar Statement: Before IPL 2023, Punjab Kings showed their captain Mayank Agarwal the way out of the team. Actually, before IPL 2023, Punjab Kings released Mayank Agarwal. Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar believes that one of the main reasons why Punjab Kings released Mayank Agarwal was that he was unable to justify the price tag after a poor season.

Why did Punjab Kings drop Mayank Agarwal from the team?

Mayank Agarwal was named as the captain of Punjab Kings for IPL 2022 and was retained by the franchise for Rs 12 crore. Mayank Agarwal joined the Punjab team in the year 2018 and formed a strong opening pair with KL Rahul, who was the captain of the team till the year 2021.

Mayank Agarwal did not perform well on the captaincy front

But Mayank Agarwal failed to score runs in IPL 2022 due to becoming the captain. Mayank Agarwal scored only 196 runs in 13 matches at an average of 16.33. Mayank Agarwal didn't fare well on the captaincy front as Punjab ended the IPL 2022 season at the sixth spot on the ten-team points table. Moreover, earlier this month, Punjab had announced that left-handed senior opener Shikhar Dhawan will replace Agarwal as the captain in IPL 2023.

This big reason came to the fore

Manjrekar said in 'IPL-Special Retention Show' on Star Sports, 'Mayank Agarwal was unable to justify his price tag. Agarwal relinquishing his opening slot to England's Jonny Bairstow in IPL 2022 was a poor decision for him as a batsman given that he did not bat well in the middle order in the post-IPL 2022 season.