Punjab Kings (PBKS) have been struggling in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 having registered just two wins from six games. On April 13, PBKS lost a last-over thriller to Rajasthan Royals (RR) at their home. In the absence of an injured Shikhar Dhawan, Sam Curran led the side PBKS' Head of Cricket Development Sanjay Bangar gave an update on Dhawan's shoulder injury saying he can be on the sidelines for "seven to 10 days".
"Unfortunately we missed out on having Shikhar [tonight] because he has a shoulder injury. So, he's likely to be out for a couple of days [games] I would say. We'll have to wait and see how he responds to the treatment, but at the moment it seems that he could be out of action for at least seven to 10 days," Bangar said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
PBKS wil face Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Titans (GT) at home on April 18 and April 21 respectively. Dhawan may miss both these matches. He is likely to return against PBKS' away clash against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 26 at Eden Gardens.
Dhawan has scored 152 runs from five innings in the season so far. His season best knock of 70 came against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in a losing cause as debutant Mayank Yadav stole the show with his raw pace and caught PBKS batters by surprise.
How Dhawan’s replacement fared against RR
In Dhawan's absence, Atharva Taide opened the batting for PBKS alongside Jonny Bairstow. He hit two fours in his 12-ball 15 before becoming Avesh Khan's first victim of the evening. PBKS suffered a batting collapse as none of the bigwigs fired. Ultimately, the in-form impact player Ashutosh Sharma turned out to be their top-scorer with 31 runs from 16 balls including three sixes and a four. Ashutosh's late charge helped PBKS post a fighting total of 147/8.
Curran, Rabada shine with ball but Hetmyer takes the cake
Curran was exceptional with the ball alongside Kagiso Rabada and bagged two wickets each to push RR on the back foot. Curran conceded 25 runs and dismissed Rovman Powell, Keshav Maharaj in the penultimate over. However, Shimron Hetmyer held his nerves and hit two sixes in the final over bowled by Arshdeep Singh to help RR win the game by three wickets and one ball to spare.
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