Punjab Kings (PBKS) have retained Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction, which is expected to take place in the last week of January.
One of the shocking decisions was to see Indian batter KL Rahul released by the Punjab-based franchise as he was not retained. Although, it was speculated before that KL Rahul has opted to go in the auction pool.
Not just that, he is now linked to the newly added franchise Lucknow and it has been reported that he is set to lead the team owned by the RPSG Group.
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Commenting on that, Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia told PTI: “We wanted to retain Rahul but he wanted to go back into the auction. If he has been approached by another franchise before that, it would be unethical.”
On being asked about reports that Rahul is being approached by the Lucknow franchise, Wadia said: “I hope not because that is against the guidelines set by the BCCI.”
It is important to note that the new teams Lucknow and Ahmedabad have time till December 25 to pick three available players who were not retained on Tuesday (November 30). Rahul was among the big names to be released alongside Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal.
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Speaking about the retained players, Wadia said, “We are really happy about retaining Mayank and Arshdeep. Mayank has been a phenomenal player for us, really loyal to the franchise. Arshdeep also has been with us for a while and I can only see him improving. I see him playing for India in the near future.”
KL Rahul thanked PBKS for the support and love, as he parted ways with them ahead of the mega auction of the upcoming season. Taking to his Twitter, the right-handed batter wrote, “It was a good ride, thank you for the love see you on the other side @PunjabKingsIPL.”
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