IPL 2020: Shikhar Dhawan provides update on DC skipper Shreyas Iyer after he hurts his shoulder

Iyer left the ground after picking up an injury while fielding against RR in Dubai.

Shreyas Iyer | BCCI/IPL Delhi Capitals' (DC) stand-in skipper Shikhar Dhawan said regular captain Shreyas Iyer is in pain but is able to move his shoulder, although the full extent of the injury will only be known after scan reports arrive. 

Dhawan spoke after his team's 13-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday (October 14) in Dubai in IPL 2020. 

Read Also: Cricket fraternity reacts as DC bowlers restrict RR to 148/8 while defending 161

Iyer hurt his shoulder while diving to save the run during the run-chase and had to immediately leave the field with the team physio Patrick Farhat. 

"He (Iyer) is in pain but good thing is he is able to move his shoulder. I haven’t spoken to him at length. We’ll get proper report tomorrow," said Dhawan at the post-match presentation ceremony, as quoted by PTI

In the first half, both Dhawan (57) and Iyer (53) scored half-centuries to take DC to a fighting total of 161/7 in the 20 overs. 

In the run-chase, things did get tight, but the likes of Kagiso Rabada (1/28), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/17), Anrich Nortje (2/33) were good enough to get their team back on top and ensure they prevail at the end. 

Even debutant Tushar Deshpande (2/37) showed fantastic nerves with fine execution of the yorkers in the final over. 

“One moment it was quite even and to pick it back from there was a team effort. It was important we stay positive as a team. I knew their batting isn’t deep and if we got their top-order we can get them,” said Dhawan, before adding in praise of his team's bowling unit, "Every time, we want them to deliver they’re delivering."

Dhawan said Deshpande, the right-arm quick, was courageous under pressure in the closing stages. 

“He showed courage. The line and length he bowled was amazing. We have to keep the momentum. It’s a long tournament. We will keep the process going," he said. 

For RR, pacer Jofra Archer (3/19) was the stand-out performer once again while Kartik Tyagi (1/30) and Shreyas Gopal (1/31) provided him able support. 

In the batting department, Ben Stokes (41), Jos Buttler (22), Sanju Samson (25) and Robin Uthappa (32) all got starts but RR needed one or two of them to bat deeper into the innings to have things in control. Even their usual saviour Rahul Tewatia (14*) couldn't quite get the big shots required. The team finished with 148/8 in response to DC's total. 

“It was disappointing," said skipper Steve Smith (1), whose poor run with the bat continued. "The wicket slowed up a bit as the game went on. We got off to a good start with Jos (Buttler) and (Ben Stokes) Stokesy, then we lost a couple wickets and got another partnership between Stokesy and Sanju (Samson), then again lost wickets in clumps and on slow wickets it is hard to make up too many runs at the back-end."

“We needed to take it a bit deeper from some of our batters and we were not able to do that. We thought we bowled well at the back-end and restricted them to 160-odd, that was probably around par on this wicket," he added. 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 15 Oct, 2020

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