Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan is expected to miss the upcoming mega IPL clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala. Dhawan sustained an injury in his shoulder while fielding during the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9, and since then, he has been on the sidelines as Sam Curran took over the charge in his absence. Meanwhile, it seems like Curran has to continue leading his side versus Faf du Plessis and Co. on Thursday as PBKS will assess Dhawan’s injury after reaching Delhi.
PBKS assistant coach Brad Haddin admitted Dhawan’s injury has been a setback for the team this season, but expressed hope the left-handed batsman will be fit to play for the final two games.
“In any team that you are a part of, it’s disappointing to leave your most senior players for extended periods. I do not have to sit here and tell you about Shikhar’s record in IPL. He’s the most successful opener in this tournament,” Haddin said.
“We go to Delhi after this game for a couple of days before we go to our next game in Guwahati. Shikhar will be assessed and then hopefully we can have some more positive news on him for the last couple of games. We will assess him when we get to Delhi. Fingers crossed,” he signed off.
With the playoff stage approaching, all eyes are on the points table as PBKS are currently placed at the bottom half – eighth spot. All the teams still have a chance to earn the coveted top-four spot, but Punjab Kings Assistant Coach Brad Haddin insisted that his side is taking the competition game-by-game.
Punjab went down by 28 runs to Chennai Super Kings at the same venue last week and will hope to return to winning ways on Thursday to remain in the hunt for the playoffs.
“The discussion over the last couple of days is about the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. If you look back to the last match we played, we got ourselves in a position to win the game. We had to chase 160-odd runs and we could not chase it down. So yeah, our main focus has been making sure we work on what we needed to from that game and concentrate on that. There’s no point worrying about the next two after this unless we play well in this one.”
