Punjab Kings (PBKS) suffered an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 14 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday (April 9).

Invited to bat first, PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan waged a lone battle, slamming 99* off 66 balls to take the visitors to a respectable 143/9 in 20 overs.

In reply, SRH rode on Rahul Tripathi’s unbeaten 74 off 48 balls and captain Aiden Markram’s vital 37* off 21 balls to overhaul the target with 17 deliveries to spare.

Reflecting on the defeat, Dhawan blamed the batting unit for failing to mould their game according to the conditions.

“As a batting unit, we lost too many wickets back to back and couldn’t put up a big total on the ground and because of that we lost the game. 175-180 would have been a reasonable score. The wicket looked quite good but it was seaming and swinging,” the southpaw said at the post-match presentation.

Despite being on the losing side, Shikhar Dhawan was adjudged Player-of-the-Match as he scored nearly 70 percent of his team’s runs.

“I didn’t expect I will reach there at the end of the day but I was playing according to the situation, still keeping positive…

“Of course it was disappointing (seeing wickets keep falling) but the way we thought the wicket was going to play, it was playing differently. It was seaming and sometimes keeping low. But that’s a learning process for my batting unit and that’s fine.

“I’m very very grateful for 99 because I never thought I’d reach there so I’m very happy,” Dhawan stated.

Punjab Kings will take on Gujarat Titans in their next match in Mohali on Thursday (April 13).