Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan produced a brilliant knock of unbeaten 99 during a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season on Sunday, April 9. Following the win, Dhawan came up with a befitting reply to renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle. For the unversed, Harsha had slammed the veteran India batter for registering a poor strike rate in the initial phase of the game against Rajasthan Royals last week. “I didn’t expect that I’d reach there at the end of the game but I was playing according to the situation, still keeping positive and I hope you were happy with my strike rate as you tweeted something,” Dhawan reportedly said during the post-match presentation yesterday. Harsha, on the other hand, did not waste much time in coming up with a cheeky response. “Very happy with your strike rate, but that was a different game and different situation. I am glad that we are having this conversation,” Harsha replied.
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Earlier, Harsha Bhogle had lashed out at Shikhar Dhawan for not maintaining a decent strike rate at the start of his knock against Rajasthan Royals.
Shikhar Dhawan’s innings will raise, should raise, the question of whether you can have an anchor batter, especially in these conditions. You can appear to have increased your strike rate by the end, but the 30 balls at run-a-ball can hurt.— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 5, 2023
After tackling the initial hiccups, Shikhar Dhawan had gone on to score an unbeaten 86 against the IPL 2008 winners. Punjab Kings had, eventually, won the contest by five runs.
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The scene, however, was different at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. The Delhi-born recorded a stunning strike rate of 150 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Dhawan came up with a commendable knock of unbeaten 99 off 66 balls to emerge as his side’s lone warrior. His terrific innings comprised 12 boundaries and five sixes. He also stitched the highest 10th wicket partnership with Mohit Rathee. The duo put up a partnership of 31 runs to guide Punjab Kings to a defendable total of 143. Spinner Mayank Markande scalped four wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad to restrict Punjab to an achievable total.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad, however, did not face much trouble in chasing down the target. Rahul Tripathi’s unbeaten knock of 74 helped the Aiden Markram-led side in scoring the winning runs with 17 balls to spare.
The eight-wicket defeat leaves Punjab Kings at the sixth spot on the IPL points table. With two wins from three matches, Shikhar Dhawan’s men right now have four points to their name.
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