"When you let Mayank Agarwal go, you should have gone towards at least one Indian batter" - Aakash Chopra on Punjab Kings' potential Achilles heel

Aakash Chopra feels the Punjab Kings (PBKS) erred by not picking a prominent Indian batter as a replacement for Mayank Agarwal at the IPL 2023 auction.

PBKS had let go of last season's skipper Mayank ahead of the auction. They only added Harpreet Bhatia as a specialist Indian batter to their squad at the mini-auction in Kochi on Friday, December 23.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that the Punjab Kings could have had a better auction, elaborating:

"It was a middling sort of auction. They could have done slightly better. They haven't resolved their problems entirely. When you let Mayank Agarwal go, you should have gone towards at least one Indian batter."

The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player reckons Manish Pandey could have been acquired as a top-order replacement for Mayank Agarwal, observing:

"Not that many options were there, I do understand, but there was Manish Pandey available. If you wanted, you could have gone towards him. You didn't go towards any name. You could have kept a foreigner."

Pandey was eventually bought by the Delhi Capitals for ₹2.4 crore. The Kings tried to reacquire Mayank at the auction but were outbid by the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), who paid ₹8.25 for the attacking opening batter.

"There were options available" - Aakash Chopra feels Punjab Kings could have also picked an overseas batter

Jonny Bairstow will likely open the batting alongside Shikhar Dhawan. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra also named a few overseas batters the Punjab Kings could have gone after, saying:

"You have Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Liam Livingstone as your two overseas contingent batters to play in the middle order besides Jonny Bairstow, who is an opener. I wanted them to pick one of Rilee Rossouw, Reeza Hendricks or Rassie van der Dussen. There were options available."

The reputed commentator feels that the absence of another Indian batter could prove to be the Punjab Kings' stumbling block in IPL 2023, explaining:

"They didn't go towards anyone. So I am a little surprised. When you see the team, Bairstow will play, you will play Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran and one of Kagiso Rabada or Nathan Ellis is going to play.

"So you probably needed an Indian but they have not gone there. So that could actually be their Achilles heel."

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Chopra concluded by observing that Arshdeep Singh might have to bear a lot of load as the Kings have not assembled a bank of Indian fast bowlers. He added that the franchise does not have a major backup for leg-spinner Rahul Chahar either.