The Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction is slated to take place on December 16, as earlier reported by Sports Tak, with Istanbul in Turkey set to be the most likely venue for the auction. And with the date etching closer, teams have begun preparing their teams for the upcoming edition of the tournaments.
And among the many teams working on improving their side is Punjab Kings, who have replaced Mayank Agarwal with Shikhar Dhawan as the team's skipper. In addition to this, reports also suggest that Punjab Kings will release players like Mayank Agarwal (Rs 12 crore), Shahrukh Khan (Rs 9 crore) and Odean Smith (Rs 6 crore).
This will give them a lot of money to spend on new players, and the team's new head coach Trevor Bayliss has shortlisted England's bowling all-rounders Ben Stokes and Sam Curran, as well as Australian opener Cameron Green. With a Rs 5 crore increase in the salary cap for 2023, the Punjab Kings could go to the auction with a minimum of Rs 30 crore, potentially the most at the mini-auction.
England's Test skipper Ben Stokes skipped the last edition of the IPL but is expected to make himself available for the 2023 edition of the competition. This is despite the apparent closeness between the IPL 2023 season and the Ashes, which will immediately follow the cash-rich league.
The Ashes starts on June 16 and the IPL is slated to end late in May or early in June, causing the availability of English and Australian players to pose a major point of debate among the IPL franchises. Stokes is the captain of the England Test team which will strive to wrest the Ashes trophy back from Australia.
Earlier, veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan was announced as the new skipper of the Punjab Kings in the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Dhawan made his PBKS captaincy debut in IPL 2022 when Agarwal was injured and will be PBKS’ 14th captain.
Earlier, the left-handed batter had led Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2013 and IPL 2014. He captained SRH in 16 games from which the team won seven.
