Punjab Kings (PBKS) would be sweating over skipper Shikhar Dhawan’s injury at a time when they need all their firepower against an extremely tough but luckless Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Thursday.
Dhawan, 37, who is one of the bright spots in the PBKS team, was ruled out against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 15 in Lucknow due to a shoulder injury, and England all-rounder Sam Curran marshalled the side during their two-wicket win at the Ekana Stadium.
There were several unlikely heroes, who put their hands up in the game, with 36-year-old Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza emerging as the leading run-getter for the side with a polished 57, while Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh, and Tamil Nadu cricketer M Shahrukh Khan guided the team to the finish line.
But, RCB are a much bigger threat on paper than LSG, and Curran would know he too will need to come to the party with the bat if they have to defeat Faf du Plessis’ side and earn two points at home. Curran’s iffy form with the bat has been a concern, as he could manage just six runs against LSG, though his three wickets played a key role in restricting KL Rahul’s side to 159/8. PBKS’ top order looks solid when Dhawan is around, but with a question mark over his fitness, his opening partner Prabhsimran Singh will have to play sensibly and also hope his partner plays a responsible knock, which was missing against LSG.
Both Prabhsimran (4) and his new opening batter, Atharva Taide (0), were dismissed cheaply, leaving others to shore up the innings.
PBKS’ bowling, though, has stood the sternest of tests this season with their two left-armers — Arshdeep Singh and Curran — at the forefront, while South African pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada has only added to the potency.
While PBKS, currently fifth with six points from five outings, have been performing at an optimum level as the IPL season looks set to enter its fourth week, the only thing holding them back from making it to the top is their brittle batting, which has more often than not been shored up, Dhawan’s 99 against Sunrisers Hyderabad being a case in point.
In contrast, RCB have been unlucky when it comes to eking out wins. With skipper du Plessis and Virat Kohli opening the innings, they perhaps have the best opening pair in the tournament, barring, of course, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler for Rajasthan Royals.
With Glenn Maxwell coming in at No.4 and Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik and Suyash Prabhudessai following the Australian, the RCB bats really deep. But their biggest flaw, unfortunately, is the same as PBKS — an inconsistent top order.
With Kohli (6) and Mahipal Lomror (0) being dismissed cheaply against CSK, the onus to rebuild the innings, while chasing CSK’s mammoth 226, fell on du Plessis and Maxwell’s shoulders. They did exceptionally well on a belter of a wicket in Bengaluru but the team fell short by eight runs.