Head of Punjab Kings (PBKS) cricket development, Sanjay Bangar has given an update on Shikhar Dhawan, who missed the recent IPL 2024 match against Rajasthan Royals in Mullanpur Stadium. In his absence, Sam Curran captained the side.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson had won the toss and opted to bowl first. Thanks to Ashutosh Sharma’s 31, 29 by Jitesh Sharma, and 21 by Liam Livingstone, PBKS posted 147/8 after a top-order failure. For RR, Avesh Khan and Keshav Maharaj picked two wickets each.
In response, the match went right down to the wire. Yashasvi Jaiswal made 39, Tanush Kotian opened the innings and made 24 in 31, while Shimron Hetmyer made 27* in 10 balls and hit the winning six for his team. In the end, RR won by 3 wickets, while Arshdep Singh and Sam Curran took 2 wickets each for PBKS.
PBKS’ head of cricket development Sanjay Bangar revealed that skipper Shikhar Dhawan has suffered a shoulder injury and could be out for at least seven to 10 days.
"He's having a shoulder injury, so he is likely to be out for at least a couple of days, I would say. Having an experienced opener, somebody like Shikhar, who has experience playing on such wickets, becomes extremely crucial (for the team).
We have to wait and see how he responds to the treatment. At the moment, it seems that he could be out of action for at least seven-ten days," said Bangar in the post-match press conference.
Meanwhile, another confusion occurred as Jitesh Sharma was the team's representative at the captains' meet at the start of the season as Dhawan, who was down with a fever, stayed back in Mullanpur.
However, in Dhawan’s absence, Sam Curran captained the side in the recent match, which surprised many PBKS fans, who had seemingly assumed that Jitesh would be the vice-captain.
However, Bangar clarified that Sam Curran was always the vice-captain of the side, and Jitesh was only sent to the captain’s meet as PBKS representative.
"No, no, he (Jitesh) wasn't the designated vice-captain. The impression could have been because he attended the captains' seminar at the start of the IPL. But the thought was always that ... because Sam had led the team in the previous year as well; he was late to arrive from the UK and he wanted to have a few (training) sessions, that's the reason we couldn't send him to Chennai. Hence Jitesh was sent because the directive was that a player had to attend.
It wasn't the case that Jitesh was the stand-in captain. We were very clear in our mind that if at all there had to be an opening, Sam Curran would be taking over and do the job as the captain," said the former India batting coach.
Bangar also agreed that PBKS top order is a concern for the side as both Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow have not been able to provide flying starts. In the match against RR, Dhawan's replacement, Atharva Taide, too could not do much as well.
"Certainly is a cause for concern that the top order is not making enough runs for us. They are trying hard - I am not saying that they are not applying themselves - but it's just not coming. Low-scoring games, especially at Mullanpur, the way the wicket is… that also is a factor. Because if you see, some of the scores have been pretty low.
In all the three games that we have played here, in the first six overs, with the new ball, the wicket tends to just jag a little bit, and uneven bounce as well. So maybe that is also a contributing factor because, not only us, the visiting teams and their top order are facing issues,” he signed off.
PBKS will have a few day’s break before they clash with Mumbai Indians, again in Mullanpur on April 18.
(PTI inputs)
