With the auction
less than 24 hours away, the cricket fraternity and experts are predicting the
respective players whom every franchise needs to fill their gaps in the line-up. A total of 405 players mark their presence on the list, with
132 of them being overseas players. Further, only 87 spots need to be filled by
the franchises in the IPL 2023 auction.
The players
of Australia, England, West Indies and South Africa are confirmed to be playing
for the entire IPL 2023 and can get a good amount of tractions on Friday. Sunrisers
Hyderabad possesses the most purse amount, followed by Punjab Kings. PBKS have a
purse amount of 32.20 crores, with the availability of nine players.
They released
nine players, with the most prominent being their IPL 2022 captain Mayank
Agarwal. Under Mayank’s leadership, the team could not reach the playoffs, and
he could score only 196 runs in 13 innings.
In this
regard, former spinner Anil Kumble reckoned that he was surprised by the
release of Mayank, as he was the leader, and was picked up as the player who
would take forward the team in the coming years. He also added that the 31-year-old decided to change
his batting position to No.4 as well for the team’s sake.
"Yes,
I am certainly surprised because he was someone who was retained with the
intention to be the captain and looked at for the future and I am really
surprised that they have let him go. He is a fantastic player, he sacrificed
his position in the team and I don't see too many players do that he sort of
said okay, I don't mind coming down the order for the sake of the team,” said Kumble.
After Kumble’s remark, former cricketer-turned-commentator Murali Kartik took a jibe at Punjab Kings' team management for not supporting their players in rough times. He pointed figures at Chris Gayle, who was also released by the franchise. The Universe Boss represented Kings from 2018 to 2021. He was then released ahead of the 2022 edition.
"With Punjab, it's interesting because there are quite a few people from Punjab who have been bitten by Punjab," Kartik said while pointing his finger towards Chris Gayle.