How Punjab Kings treated Mayank Agarwal is disappointing: Chris Gayle

Mayank Agarwal captained Punjab Kings in IPL 2022 [Source: Twitter]

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is all about performance and economics. However, for the Punjab Kings, it is about ever-changing squads. 

Ahead of the IPL 2023 mini-auction, former West Indies player and an IPL legend Chris Gayle has talked about how poorly the Kings franchise treated Mayank Agarwal. Agarwal, who captained the franchise in IPL 2022, was not retained by the management after finishing sixth in the table last season.

Agarwal, to date, remains one of the Kings' most consistent batters having scored 1,513 runs in 60 IPL matches between 2018 and 2022.

Gayle, who has played with Agarwal with the Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, stated that the Indian opener would have felt hurt given his sacrifices over the past seasons.

"Mayank will definitely get picked. I would be very disappointed if he doesn't. Because he is such an explosive player. He has probably hurt within himself at not being retained by Punjab after what he sacrificed for the franchise and to be treated like that is disappointing but I hope teams still believe in him and give him good money. He is a fantastic team man as well,"

The 43-year-old also ridiculed the constant chopping and changing of players in the franchise.

"They chop and change man, it is ridiculous. You keep chopping and changing, they never have a set eleven whether you win a match,"

Kings appointed Shikhar Dhawan as their new captain for the upcoming IPL 2023 edition.

IPL Mini-Auction 2023: All you need to know Players, Slots, Purse, Live Streaming, Squads