Punjab Kings suffered a loss in the IPL 2023 match played against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday. PBKS regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan didn't play the previous two games as he sustained a shoulder injury against Gujarat Titans on April 13. Ahead of their next game on Saturday fielding coach gave an update on Dhawan's recovery.
PBKS have their next match scheduled for Saturday, April 13. Trevor Gonsalves, the fielding coach of Punjab said it will take another two to three days on the availability of regular captain Dhawan, which puts him a doubtful starter for Saturday's clash against Mumbai Indians. In Dhawan's absence, Sam Curran has been named the stand-in captain.
“It should take around 2-3 days more," PBKS’ fielding coach Gonsalves told the media when asked about Dhawan’s injury update.
Despite missing two matches, Dhawan is still among the top five most prolific batters this season with 233 runs in four matches at 116.50.
PBKS lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs on Thursday. They were bowled out for 150 in 18.2 overs while chasing 175.
Talking about the match, Gonsalves said, "It was a good wicket to bat on. We got them at a good enough score, but we lost a few wickets early on.”
India and RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj grabbed 4/21 to do most of the damage during Punjab's run chase.
“He (Siraj) is one of the best in the world at the moment,” said RCB’s bowling coach Adam Griffith.
“Even in the last game where (almost) 440 runs were scored, he went for (just) 30. Not just today, he has been bowling well for the whole tournament and even before that. We saw how well he was bowling for India.
Punjab Kings have won 3 out of 6 matches played and are in the 7th position on the points table.
