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Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shikhar Dhawan defied all odds to rescue his side from a collapse of epic proportions against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In doing so, Dhawan remained not out on 99. Carrying his bat, Dhawan became the second captain in Indian Premier League (IPL) history to remain not out on 99.
Other batters to remain not out for 99
In IPL 2021, Mayank Agarwal scored an unbeaten 99 off 58 balls to guide his side to 166/6. Delhi Capitals (DC) registered an easy win by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare.
Before Dhawan and Agarwal, only two other batters have remained not out on 99. Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) Suresh Raina was the first to do it against SRH in 2013. His 99-run knock helped CSK post 223/3 and win by 77 runs. In IPL 2019, Chris Gayle scored 99 from 64 balls to help Punjab Kings (PBKS) post 173/4. But it ended in a losing cause as RCB chased down the target by four balls to spare.
The single-handed effort
He accounted for 69.2 per cent of PBKS's total. This is the second-highest percentage of team runs by a batter in IPL. Brendon McCullum's 158 is on top with 71.2 percentage of runs against RCB in IPL's inaugural match in 2008.
Dhawan’s grit after collapse
At Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, apart from Dhawan and Sam Curran no PBKS batter could score in double digits. Despite introducing the impact player early on in the innings, PBKS could not stop the batting collapse. At one point, PBKS were 88/9. After that he took it upon himself to do the scoring. No.11 batter Mohit Rathee played just two deliveries in the 10th wicket partnership while Dhawan marched on.
When the ninth wicket fell, the southpaw was batting on 47. In the next over, Dhawan hit T Natarajan for consecutive sixes. In the 17th over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dropped his catch. Umran Malik took a beating from Dhawan as he hit him for two sixes and one four. In the penultimate over, Bhuvneshwar dropped him again and was hit for two fours. In the final over, Dhawan could not hit a boundary off the first ball. He finished the innings with a six and remained unbeaten for 99 off 66 balls.
Dhawan's unbeaten 99-run knock was studded with 12 fours and five sixes. It helped PBKS post 143/9 on the board. The 55-run partnership with Rathee is the highest for 10th wicket. Also, it is the fifth-highest 10th-wicket partnership in T20 cricket (franchise cricket, domestic T20 cricket and T20Is).
“I am glad that the Hyderabad crowd still remembers me. I have played a few ones, this was one of the best maybe. It is good because I played till the end and the wickets were falling from the other end. So, we have got to a respectable total and given ourselves a chance,” the opener told broadcasters after his knock.
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