Senior Indian batters Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey have failed to make a mark ahead of the IPL 2023 auction with cheap scores in Karnataka’s first game in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament.
Both the experienced Karnataka batsmen were released by their respective IPL franchises – Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants.
Mayank was even the captain of PBKS but the disappointing IPL 2022 season for him with the bat – average of 16 and strike rate of 122 – and the team failing to make the playoffs, plus his big retention price of INR 14 crore triggered PBKS to let the 31-year-old opener go. PBKS have appointed veteran batsman Shikhar Dhawan as their new skipper.
Manish Pandey, who was bought by new franchise Lucknow, had a forgettable IPL 2022 with the bat, scoring only 88 runs in 6 innings at a strike rate of 110 before being benched, and now has been released.
Mayank Agarwal was sacked as captain by Punjab Kings and is released
Both Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey have put themselves in the INR 1 crore bracket for the IPL 2023 auction.
While both of them are likely to be bought by some franchise – based on their experience in the IPL and in Indian conditions – good performance in the Ranji trophy this month would boost their price for the mini-auction, slated for December 23.
However, in the first innings of Karnataka, both of them fell for low scores against Services. Agarwal, who is Karnataka’s captain, was dismissed for only 8 runs by Diwesh Pathania, edging a moving delivery, and was caught by wicketkeeper Devender Lohchab, while Pandey was bowled by the same bowler.
Apart from these two, there were two other senior India players who will be in the IPL auction pool, but failed to make a significant mark in the Ranji trophy so far- Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma.
Captaining the Mumbai team against Andhra Pradesh, Rahane started off well and scored 44 runs but couldn’t turn his start into a sizeable knock. Rahane has been released by KKR. Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma toiled hard for 20 overs against Maharashtra for a solitary wicket. Both Rahane and Ishant have listed themselves in the INR 50 lakh category.
