IPL 2023: Major Update On PBKS Star Shikhar Dhawan's Injury

It might take another two or three days for Shikhar Dhawan to get match-fit, which means he might also miss his team Punjab Kings' important match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday.

PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan suffered an injury in his team's defeat to defending champions Gujarat Titans and is yet to recover. ( Image Source :PTI )

Punjab Kings' (PBKS) star Shikhar Dhawan missed his team's all-important Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday (April 20). The senior opener reportedly suffered an injury in his team's defeat to defending champions Gujarat Titans and is yet to recover. In his absence, Sam Curran was asked to captain the PBKS squad. As per a report in PTI, it might take another two or three days for Dhawan to get match-fit, which means he might also miss his team's important match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday.

Shikhar Dhawan missed playing two matches ever since he got injured, but is still among the top five most prolific batters this season with 233 runs in four matches at 116.50.

"It should take around 2-3 days more," PBKS' fielding coach Trevor Gonsalves told PTI when asked about Dhawan's injury update. PBKS lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs here on Thursday.

Talking about the match, Gonsalves said, "It was a good wicket to bat on. We got them at a god enough score, but we lost a few wickets early on.” PBKS were bowled out for 150 in 18.2 overs, while chasing 175.

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.

"He is our leader and sets the tone upfront with the ball and it is no coincidence that our powerplays have been so good with the ball so far in the tournament,” he added.

Griffith said Siraj has been able to control his length exceptionally well and was not falling into the trap of pitching the ball up to swing it.

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"He is still swinging it from that really aggressive length that the batter cannot get in or get down to drive him. His ability to get the ball come back into the right-hander and go across the left-hander has been a real showcase for him,” he explained.

(With PTI Inputs)