Throwing weight behind one of India's finest batters in the build-up to the mini-auction, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has picked Kane Williamson's ideal replacement at Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). New Zealand's Williamson, who recently relinquished the Test captaincy, was shown the exit door by former Indian Premier League (IPL) champions SRH ahead of the upcoming mini-auction for the new season.
SRH parted ways with Williamson after the New Zealand batter endured a forgetful season in the IPL 2022. The senior batter was earlier retained by Orange Army for a whopping sum of INR 14 crore. The talismanic batter of the Black Caps was one of three players retained by the Hyderabad-based franchise prior to the IPL 2022 auction. With SRH set to enter the mini-auction in search of a new captain, ex-Indian all-rounder Irfan has claimed that the former IPL champions will hope to acquire the services of opener Mayank Agarwal.
“SRH will go after Mayank Agarwal because they need a kind of aggressive opener as well. They don’t have Kane Williamson right now who led them for many years as an experienced player and who used to open the innings as well. Mayank Agarwal is the kind of guy who has led a side, who plays quite freely as well, very fearless, very selfless. They might be thinking of him going forward as a leader as well,” Pathan shared his views on the Star Sports show Game Plan.
{{/usCountry}}“SRH will go after Mayank Agarwal because they need a kind of aggressive opener as well. They don’t have Kane Williamson right now who led them for many years as an experienced player and who used to open the innings as well. Mayank Agarwal is the kind of guy who has led a side, who plays quite freely as well, very fearless, very selfless. They might be thinking of him going forward as a leader as well,” Pathan shared his views on the Star Sports show Game Plan.
{{/usCountry}}Premier opener Agarwal was released by Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the lead-up to the mini-auction. Punjab Kings appointed veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan as the new leader of the franchise for IPL 2023. Agarwal, who has represented the likes of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rising Pune Supergiant, will feature in the first set of the IPL 2023 auction. The upcoming edition of the IPL auction will be held in Kochi on Friday.