Punjab Kings's Director Of Cricket Operations Anil Kumble said the franchise was keen to retain captain KL Rahul but the Karnataka right-handed opted to go back into the auction pool.
Punjab Kings made only two retentions in Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh ahead of the mega auction, while leaving out big names like Mohammed Shami and Nicholas Pooran. Young performers like Shahrukh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi were also released.
Mayank pocketed a whopping Rs 12 crore, while Arshdeep got Rs 4 crore.
"KL has been the fulcrum for us in the last four years, and the last two years in the time that I have been with Punjab, he has been the captain. Obviously, we wanted to retain him and continue with him to be the focus for Punjab but he decided that he wanted to go back to auction," said Kumble in a video posted on iplt20.com.
"And the rules of the IPL before a big auction is that the player decides whether he wants to be retained or wants to go back. So we respect that, hopefully, he will be a part of that auction and let us see what happens," he added.
