Punjab Kings (PBKS) Harpreet Singh Bhatia rewrote Indian Premier League (IPL) record books before stepping on the field against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Ekana Cricket Stadium on April 15. Bhatia now holds the record for the longest gap between two appearances in IPL. The record was previously held by Gujarat Titans (GT) Matthew Wade who had a gap of 10 years and 312 days between two games. Bhatia's last IPL appearance was on May 19, 2012 which makes the gap between two games to 10 years and 332 days.
Harpreet has played five IPL games and scored just 20 runs from three innings. He made his IPL debut in 2010 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Mumbai Indians (MI). His last IPL appearance was for now-defunct Pune Warriors against KKR. He scored just six runs and lost his wicket to KKR all-rounder Sunil Narine.
He was a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) squad in IPL 2017 but did not get a chance to play.
In the run chase of 160, Bhatia walked out to bat at no.4 after Prabhsimran Singh got dismissed by on-debut Yudhvir Singh Charak. He scored a run-a-ball 22 which included three fours. Just when he was looking to accelerate, he lost his wicket to left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya. Harpreet took the aerial route as Pandya fired one on the pads. He did not get enough bat on it and got caught by Yudhvir at deep backward square leg.
While Yudhvir managed to score only 22 runs, this was his career-best IPL score.
In Shikhar Dhawan’s absence, Sam Curran led PBKS against LSG. Dhawan missed out due to an injury sustained against Gujarat Titans (GT) earlier this week.
ALSO READ:
IPL 2023: Virat Kohli gives befitting response to Simon Doull's strike rate criticism, says — 'In the anchor role...'
Big update on Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer injuries; know when the duo will return to action for Team India
