IPL Auction 2023: Punjab Kings Retained and Released Players with remaining Purse Value

IPL Auction 2023: After a thrilling season of the Indian Premier League in 2022, all eyes are on the upcoming season in 2023. The BCCI has given all teams a chance to reshuffle their squads in the upcoming auction. For that, the board has increased the purse value of each team by INR 5 crore. And after the deadline set by the BCCI, each team has retained some players, and some players will come under the hammer.

The mini-auction is all set to take place on December 23 in Kochi. Thus, for teams that have not won the IPL title even once, this will be a good opportunity to make their squad stronger. One such team, that hasn’t been able to get their hands on the trophy is the Mohali-based franchise Punjab Kings. This franchise has made some big decisions ahead of the upcoming auction and has also changed its skipper.

IPL Auction 2023: Retained Players For PBKS

Punjab Kings ended the 2022 season in 6th place, winning seven out of the 14 games they played. They even beat the champions, the Gujarat Titans, in the group stage once. But PBKS didn’t perform consistently, which resulted in their elimination from the group stage only. Notably, Punjab hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2016, so they would like to do well in the upcoming season. For that reason, the franchise hasn’t done much chopping and changing within the team.

They simply kept all of the players who performed well last season. But the first thing they did was change the captaincy. Mayank Agarwal wasn’t able to do well, so PBKS has given the responsibility to veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan. Now, he will take this job. English star opener Jonny Bairstow, along with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Liam Livingstone, are retained.

For bowling, Kagiso Rabada and Nathan Ellis are the two retained overseas stars. Apart from that, Indian left-armer Arshdeep Singh, who recently did a good job for the Indian team, is also on the team. Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar are the other two Indian bowlers, along with Rishi Dhawan. However, one name that was doubtful has also been retained, and that is hard-hitting batter Shahrukh Khan.

Retained Players: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Arshdeep Singh,  Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Bawa, Baltej Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar

IPL Auction 2023: Released Players for PBKS

Punjab Kings were the first franchise to replace their captain ahead of the upcoming auction. They replaced Mayank Agarwar and appointed Dhawan as the new captain. That meant that they didn’t need Agarwar anymore. That is why the team released their former captain and added 14 crores to their bank account. Agarwal also failed with the bat in the last season.

Apart from that, another name in which the franchise invested a huge amount in the last season was Odean Smith. The West Indian all-rounder was picked for INR 6 crore, and now he has been released. So these two players have added INR 20 crore to PBKS’s account. Punjab has also released veteran IPL bowler Sandeep Sharma.

Released Players: Mayank Agarwal, Odean Smith, Benny Howell, Vaibhav Arora, Ishan Porel, Sandeep Sharma, Ansh Patel, Prerak Mankad, Writtick Chatterjee

Remaining Purse Value for Punjab Kings

The remaining purse value for Punjab Kings is the second highest in the season. They are left with an amount of INR 32.2 crore, which means they can go hard at the auction. After releasing Odean Smith, the franchise might look to pick an overseas all-rounder and a finisher as well.

Team Wise Retained Players List of IPL Teams