Punjab Kings captain Mayank Agarwal is feeling confident about his team’s chances in the new edition of the Indian Premier League. Agarwal, who has been entrusted with the captaincy this season stated that they have a title winning squad and now it is upon the team to make something out of it.
"We like to believe that we do have a title winning squad and now it is upon us as players to execute our skills under pressure and see what we can make out of it," Agarwal told PTI in an interview.
Several members of the Punjab Kings hierarchy have already stated that they are quite happy with how the mega-auction went and Agarwal seems to reflect the same view.
"As a team we have done a good job at the auction. We were looking at a few skill sets knowing that the tournament will be played in Mumbai and we have covered those bases. We are happy with the balance we have in the side."
Agarwal has been Punjab’s best batter for a couple of seasons anchoring the innings from start to finish despite batting at a very high strike-rate.
The right-hander stated that things should get easier for him in this season considering the wealth of experience Punjab have in their ranks this time around.
"When I am batting I am just a batsman. We have a lot of leaders and experience in the team and that makes it easier for me. I want to excel as a batsman and do the things I have been doing. (On the captaincy front) we have made our plans to take the team forward," the Karnataka born said.
It needs to be noted that Agarwal will find support in veteran Shikhar Dhawan this season. The left hander has been one of the best batters in the IPL for several years now, finishing at the top of the charts with dominating performances. Speaking about the same, Mayank was high praises about the former Delhi Capitals player and stated that people will feed off his energy.
"He (Dhawan) is an absolute livewire, a great entertainer, a massive performer and a lot of the guys will feed off his energy. He is also in a great mind space."
Punjab Kings go head to head with Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first game of the IPL on March 27 at 7:30 PM. Both sides are looking strong and have a new core going forward into the tournament.