Shikhar Dhawan to replace Mayank Agarwal as Punjab Kings captain for IPL 2023

For the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL), Shikhar Dhawan will replace Mayank Agarwal as the captain of Punjab Kings (PBKS). On Twitter, the franchise owned by Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, Mohit Burman and Karan Paul announced that the 'Sher Squad' has found its new captain, and that is Shikhar Dhawan. 

"#SherSquad, we are happy to announce Shikhar Dhawan as captain of Punjab Kings!" read the tweet uploaded by the franchise on the microblogging site. Within minutes of the announcement, the tweet garnered over 340 retweets, 4,000 likes and 114 comments. 

Pertinently, in the mega auction of 2022, Dhawan was picked up by the PBKS for a whopping Rs 8.25 crore. This was after he was dropped by the Delhi Capitals despite a thunderous performance in the 2021 edition, with a score of 587 runs at an average of 39.13, and a strike rate of 124.62. Before joining Delhi Capitals, he had represented Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. 

Twitter reacts:

The appointment of Dhawan, who topped the scoring chart for PBKS in IPL 2022, as captain, got mixed reactions from the netizens. While a few 'respected' the decision and even called it 'good', others said that Agarwal was a 'better captain' than Dhawan. There were also many who pointed out the trend of changing captains that the multi-owner franchise was following, and opined that it may be 'one of the reasons why they have not yet been able to win a trophy' in the league.