 "Shikhar Dhawan is Punjab Kings' leading run-scorer in IPL 2024. PTI")
Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan has a shoulder injury, revealed coach Sanjay Bangar, following the team’s last-over defeat against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday. Dhawan would be out for a week, possibly, or more, said the former India batting coach. If Dhawan misses a week of IPL action, he will sit out the games against Mumbai Indians (18 April) and Gujarat Titans (21 April), both at home in Mullanpur.
“He’s having a shoulder injury, so he is likely to be out for at least a couple of days, I would say,” Bangar said. “Having an experienced opener, somebody like Shikhar, who has experience of 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.”
In Dhawan’s absence, Sam Curran led the team , which created some confusion. Jitesh Sharma had attended the captains’ conference in Chennai prior to the season which suggested he was the vice-captain.
“No, no, he [Jitesh] wasn’t the designated vice-captain,” Bangar clarified. “The impression could have been because he attended the captains’ seminar, or meeting, at the start of the IPL. But the thought was always that… because Sam has led the team in the previous year as well; he was late to arrive from 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 has to attend.
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More Shorts“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 will be taking over and do the job as the captain.”
Dhawan hasn’t had a great start to IPL 2024 but is PBKS’ highest run-scorer this season with 152 runs from five innings, scoring at an average of 30.40 and a strike rate of 125.61. Lack of runs at the top of the order has seen them pegged back with four losses in six matches to stand eighth in the points table.
Punjab Kings have struggled for runs so far this IPL season. Jonny Bairstow, Dhawan’s opening partner, has scored just 96 runs in six innings, while Prabhsimran Singh (119 runs in six innings) and Jitesh (106 runs in six innings) have struggled to get going as well.
On Saturday, in Dhawan’s absence, Kings sent Atharva Taide at the top of the order. He scored 15 runs in 12 balls as Kings scored just 38 runs in the powerplay overs on their way to a total of 147/8.
“Certainly is a cause for concern that the top order is not making enough runs for us,” Bangar said. “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 has a factor. Because if you see, some of the scores have been pretty low.
“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.”