Punjab Kings revealed their list of retained players ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 auction.
Under newly-appointed captain Shikhar Dhawan and new head coach Trevor Bayliss, the 2014 IPL finalists have retained a total of 16 players including 11 Indians and five overseas players. Meanwhile, the franchise has released as many as nine players from the previous edition of the tournament.
The Indian contingent includes newly-appointed skipper Shikhar Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide and Baltej Singh.
Among the overseas cricketers, the franchise has retained star English duo Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone, South African pacer Kagiso Rabada, Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, and Australian fast bowler Nathan Ellis .
Punjab Kings have decided to release former skipper Mayank Agarwal, West Indian all-rounder Odean Smith and Indian pacer Sandeep Sharma ahead of the IPL 2023 auction. Vaibhav Arora, Ishan Porel, Benny Howell, Writtick Chatterjee, Ansh Patel and Prerak Mankad have also been released by the franchise.
Having released nine cricketers, Punjab Kings will head into the IPL mini-auction with the second-highest purse of INR 32.2 crore.
Punjab Kings will aim to add more match-winners to the squad in the auction to form a formidable team for the upcoming edition of the IPL.
IPL 2023
Players retained: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Arshdeep Singh, Atharva Taide, Baltej Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wicketkeeper), Harpreet Brar, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Nathan Ellis, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Rahul Chahar, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Shahrukh Khan
Purse Remaining: INR 32.2 crore
Overseas slots remaining: 3
Total slots left: 9
#SherSquad, let us know some of the star cricketers that you want in the team for IPL 2023.
