Explosive Indian batter drops IPL team's name from Instagram bio, possibly foreshadowing surprise departure ahead of mega auction

The right-handed batter has recently updated his Instagram bio, removing any mention of Punjab Kings. His new bio now simply states “Professional Cricketer,” indicating a possible change in his affiliation with the team.

Now, this is raising questions whether the youngster would be retained by Punjab Kings or not. As per BCCI's new IPL 2025 retention rules, each franchise can retain two uncapped players for a price of ₹4 crore each.

With the bat in hand, Shashank Singh proved to be a dominant force in IPL 2024, as he had a strike rate of 164.65. He also registered his top score of IPL career this season, as he played a knock of 68 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

During the same season, he had also played a match-winning knock against Gujarat Titans as he scored 61 runs to help Punjab chase down 200 runs.

Earlier, speaking to InsideSport, Shashank Singh had opened up on being retained by Punjab Kings. He said that even if he is not retained, there are a lot of other franchises, and he just hopes to play the IPL.

"That is something which is going to happen in October-November, that is too long from now. There can be so many things happening in between that. Obviously, it would be good to play for the same franchise, but there are a lot of good franchises, apart from Punjab as well," said Shashank.

"I am just hopeful that I play and excel in IPL because after last year, I have stopped expecting everything. I am grateful to God that this year I got an opportunity. I am just hoping that next year also I get an opportunity," he added.

Before IPL 2024, Shashank Singh was picked up by Punjab Kings for his base price ₹20 lakh. However, he caught a lot of attention after what transpired immediately after he was bought by PBKS.

There were two Shashank Singhs listed in the IPL 2024 auction. Punjab Kings seemingly bid for the wrong Shashank, and they expressed their desire to take the bid back.

However, after a lot of furore on social media, Punjab Kings released a statement, saying, "Official Update Punjab Kings would like to clarify that Shashank Singh was always on our target list. The confusion was due to 2 players of the same name being on the list. We are delighted to have him on board and see him contribute to our success."