When Shikhar Dhawan was appointed as the new captain of Punjab Kings, there were a lot of expectations from ‘Gabbar’. And the initial phase of its 2023 campaign shows that it’s not the same side anymore. Dhawan has delivered and how. After a win over Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings registered a nervy victory on Wednesday when they defeated Rajasthan Royals by five runs. Dhawan played the captain’s knock (86* not out) at Guwahat’s barsapara Stadium. Apart from him, young batter Prabhsimran Singh scored his maiden IPL half-century. Critical cameo by Jitesh Sharma helped Punjab Kings put up a fighting total of 197 against Rajasthan Royals.
The ‘men in pink’ suffered major setbacks in powerplay itself. Superb pace attack by Arshdeep Singh got rid of both openers. Just when things were looking steady for the Royals, Dhawan decided to send Nathan Ellis to bowl and he simply demolished the batting lineup of Rajasthan Royals. His 4 for 30 took the steam out of RR’s chase.
Still, RR didn’t lose the plot. Shimron Hetmyer (35) and young ‘Impact Player’ Dhruv Jurel bright RR back in the game with their spirited partnership of 62 runs. Till the time these two were on the crease, RR were in a position to score a win. But then Sam Curran walked in. Asked to bowl death overs, the costliest overseas player, made sure people knew the worth of that tag. Curran brilliantly defended 15 runs. He restricted RR and helped PBKS to win their second consecutive win in IPL 2023.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals’ batting mainstay Jos Buttler has got multiple stitches on the little finger of his left hand during team’s IPL game against Punjab Kings and could miss his team’s next game against Delhi Capitals on April 8.
Ravichandran Ashwin was promoted as an opener as Buttler, who injured his little finger while taking a catch to dismiss PBKS batter Shahrukh Khan, was getting stitches on his finger. Buttler ran from deep and took a sliding catch off Jason Holder’s bowling in the last over but immediately looked in pain as he left the field with a couple of balls still remaining. “Jos was not fit. He was getting stitches for his finger after the catch,” skipper Sanju Samson said during post-match presentation ceremony.
(With inputs from PTI)