Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan will replace Mayank Agarwal as the captain of IPL franchise Punjab Kings in the 2023 season of the mega event. The decision was taken on Wednesday during a franchise board meeting and was backed by Trevor Bayliss, the newly appointed head coach of Punjab Kings.
"#SherSquad, we are happy to announce Shikhar Dhawan as captain of Punjab Kings!" the IPL franchise tweeted.
Agarwal was appointed captain just before IPL 2022 after KL Rahul decided to move to Lucknow Super Giants.
In the tournament, Punjab Kings failed to qualify for the play offs and stood sixth in the points table. Agarwal, who joined the Punjab franchise in 2018, scored just 196 runs in 13 matches at an average of 16.33 in the 2022 season of the IPL.
Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh were the two players retained by Kings ahead of the 2022 mega auction. Dhawan was the first player the franchise bought in the auction for Rs 8.25 crore.
"The board has decided to make Dhawan captain. He has all the experience, both as player and captain in the IPL and also did well for the team in his first season last year," an IPL source told PTI.
Dhawan, one of the most consistent players in the IPL, scored 460 runs in 14 matches with an average of 38.33 and a strike rate of 122.66 in the 2022 edition of the tournament.
His best season was in 2020 where Dhawan scored 618 runs at a strike rate of nearly 145 for Delhi Capitals, who had traded him in from Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Across teams in IPL, Dhawan has been captain in 11 matches (ten at Sunrisers in 2014 and one for Kings last year) with four wins and seven losses.
In the next IPL season, Punjab will also have a new head coach in Trevor Bayliss, who guided England to the 2019 ODI World Cup title and KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Bayliss will be assisted by fellow Australian Brad Haddin.