IPL Auction 2023: Former Indian speedster Irfan Pathan has reckoned that Sunrisers Hyderabad will go all out for securing services of Mayank Agarwal as a leader.
Mayank Agarwal has been one of the finest top-order batters in the IPL history. He has garnered over 2300 runs in 113 appearances. Since 2019, he served as a key member of the Punjab Kings line-up.
Along with KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal provided imperious starts to the Men in Red until the 2021 edition. After Rahul switched sides in 2022, Agarwal was retained and chosen as the leader of Punjab.
However, the 2022 season could not be successful in terms of leadership and personal contributions for Mayank Agarwal. He could score only 196 runs in 13 innings at a paltry average of 16.33 and team could not reach playoffs as well.
As a result, Agarwal was released ahead of the IPL Auction 2023. The franchise certainly freed good amount of money with this decision. The top-order batter will feature in the auction with a price bracket of INR 1 Crore.
READ MORE: IPL 2023: “It’ll Be a Very Big Thing for Me”, Abhishek Sharma on Sunrisers Hyderabad Captaincy
Irfan Pathan believes SRH will go after Mayank Agarwal in IPL Auction 2023
Irfan reckoned that after SRH let go of their captain Kane Williamson, they are in need of an experienced leader. In this regard, he thinks they can target Mayank Agarwal in the IPL Auction 2023.
Furthermore, the former pacer reckoned that Agarwal likes to play freely and is fearless, which is required by SRH as well. It is evident that SRH released Nicholas Pooran as well along with Williamson. They are left with limited options for the leadership role.
“SRH will go after Mayank Agarwal because they need a kind of aggressive opener as well. They don’t have Kane Williamson right now who led them for many years as an experienced player and who used to open the innings as well. Mayank Agarwal is the kind of guy who has led a side, who plays quite freely as well, very fearless, very selfless. They might be thinking of him going forward as a leader as well.
Although Mayank Agarwal has been successful in IPL, he is enduring a slump in form in the domestic cricket. His candidature in the IPL Auction 2023 is not getting good enough traction, but could be a gun player for SRH if in top form.
In the last edition, SRH finished on eighth position with only six wins in 14 league matches. It will be interesting to witness if they secure Mayank Agarwal’s services in the forthcoming auction.It will be interesting to witness his bid in the IPL auction 2023.
SRH Retained Players: Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi*, Glenn Phillips*, Kartik Tyagi, Marco Jansen*, Rahul Tripathi, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar
