Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in an interesting contest in Lucknow on April 15 that too without their captain Shikhar Dhawan who is the leading run-getter thus far in the IPL 2023.
Sam Curran, who captained the PBKS side in absence of Shikhar Dhawan, won the toss and chose to bowl first. Rahul’s 74 was the only innings of note, while the second-best scorer was Kyle Mayers with 29, as LSG posted 159/8 in 20 overs. Curran led from the front picking 3/31, while Kagiso Rabada took 2 wickets.
In response, debutant Yudhvir Singh removed both the PBKS openers for single-digit scores and then Sikandar Raza with 57 and Matthew Short with 34 stabilized the innings somewhat. In the end, it was a brilliant 23* knock (1 four and 2 sixes) from Shahrukh Khan which took PBKS past the finishing line in the end.
Shahrukh’s big-hitting was a result of the platform set by Sikandar Raza who became the first Zimbabwean to score a half-century in IPL. The ace all-rounder from Zimbabwe scored 57 off 41 deliveries, with the help of three sixes and four boundaries.
Both the PBKS batters were seen in a conversation in a video posted by the IPL on their social media.
To start with, Raza asked Shahrukh about the story behind his name. The youngster said his parents named him after the Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan.
“I’m the first boy born in the family. I’ve got a lot of sisters in the family and they were all huge fans of Shah Rukh Khan. I was born in the year 1995 and his film, Baazigar had released somewhere around 1993-94. And my mom wanted to name me after him so that’s the reason,” Shahrukh told Raza in the video on IPL Twitter.
