Despite facing little support from his teammates, Shikhar Dhawan’s superb knock of an unbeaten 99 off 66 balls kept Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the running against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) during Match 12 of IPL 2023 on Sunday.
Dhawan opened the innings and smashed 12 fours and five sixes to help his side close on 143/9. Earlier, PBKS had lost wickets consistently, beginning with the dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh off the first ball. Despite Sam Curran’s 15-ball 22, the SRH attack reduced PBKS to 78/8.
However, Dhawan’s unbeaten innings, combined with an unbroken 55-run stand with Mohit Rathee, helped PBKS reach a respectable total. Dhawan’s efforts were highly appreciated by his teammates and social media users. It’s worth noting that Dhawan is the second-highest all-time run-scorer in IPL, with 6469 runs in 209 innings, behind only Virat Kohli.
Despite a shambolic performance from the rest of the team, Dhawan’s innings was one of the best T20 innings of all time. The trouble started with Prabhsimran’s dismissal on the first ball of the innings to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and it never really improved. Dhawan watched as his teammates were taken down by SRH’s seamers and Mayank Markande’s leggies and googlies.
PBKS went from 63/3 to 78/8, and finally 88/9 by the end of the 15th over. However, Dhawan took control, farming the strike and scoring 55 runs off the last 5 overs. Natarajan’s last over prevented Dhawan from scoring a well-deserved century. Some of the shots played by PBKS during the collapse were incredibly disappointing. Nonetheless, Dhawan’s innings has given PBKS a glimmer of hope.