'We Wanted Him To Stay, But He Wanted To Go Into Auction': Punjab Kings Owner Ness Wadia On KL Rahul

PBKS IPL Retention 2022: Punjab Kings owner reveals that they wanted KL Rahul to stay, but the Indian opener opted to enter the auction.

Ness Wadia (R) and KL Rahul | (File Photo/ Getty Images)

IPL 2022 Retention, PBKS: It is not everyday that a player does not want to be retained by his franchise, but it has happened in the case of KL Rahul and Punajb Kings (PBKS). The former Punjab Kings captain was wanted by his franchise owners to stay in the team, but the Indian opener had different plans. 

According to a report in Cricbuzz, Ness Wadia, the co-owner of Punjab Kings said that KL Rahul wanted to enter in the auction and not get retained by the franchise.  

"He was our captain, we tried our best (to retain Rahul). We wanted him to stay but he wanted to go into the auction. He had different plans," said Ness Wadia to Cricbuzz. It is being speculated that KL Rahul would be heading for the new Lucknow franchise. 

Punjab Kings (PBKS) have retained Arshdeep Singh and Mayank Agarwal. "We have retained Mayank and Arshdeep who were part of our strategy. In terms of bowling, we are confident Arshdeep will represent India soon. It is too early to say if Mayank will be captain but he is a talented and committed player," added Ness Wadia.

"Whatever we need to do we will do to improve and we are looking forward to having a right balance for the side," he concluded.

Now that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have finalised on the players that they want to retain, let us look at all the players that were retained by franchises:

• Chennai Super Kings: Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali & Ruturaj Gaikwad
• Kolkata Knight Riders: Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer & Sunil Narine
• Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, and Umran Malik
• Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav & Kieron Pollard
• Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell & Mohammed Siraj
• Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw & Anrich Nortje
• Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler & Yashasvi Jaiswal
• Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh