Punjab Kings have suffered a major blow mid-season as their skipper Shikhar Dhawan is set to miss the two upcoming fixtures against Mumbai Indians (April 18) and Gujarat Titans (April 21) with a shoulder injury. The Head of Cricket Development at Punjab Kings, Sanjay Bangar, revealed that Shikhar "could be out of action for at least seven-ten days".
Shikhar missed PBKS' sixth fixture of the season on Saturday (April 13) when they took on table-toppers Rajasthan Royals on their home turf at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh.
Punjab's star overseas allrounder Sam Curran stepped in for Shikhar and was the stand-in captain during the clash against Rajasthan.
Speaking after the three-wicket loss to Rajasthan, Bangar first mentioned that Shikhar could be "out of action for at least a couple of days" but later added that the injury may put him on the sidelines for "at least seven-ten days".
"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 during the post-match conference. "Having an experienced opener, somebody like Shikhar, who has experience of playing on such wickets, becomes extremely crucial (for the squad).
"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."
Punjab missed Dhawan badly against Rajasthan as their batting order failed to put up a winning score on the board. The consistent batting failure is ailing Punjab and Bangar admitted that it is a cause of concern for the team management.
"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," Bangar added.
Punjab Kings IPL 2024 squad
Jonny Bairstow, Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Ashutosh Sharma, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Nathan Ellis, Shikhar Dhawan, Sikandar Raza, Tanay Thyagarajan, Rishi Dhawan, Rilee Rossouw, Chris Woakes, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh
