“My Decision Backfired”: Shikhar Dhawan Pinpoints What Cost Punjab Kings the Match vs Delhi at HPCA Stadium

Shikhar Dhawan (0), Punjab Kings‘ dejected captain, shared an honest assessment of his team’s latest loss to Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala. A loss all but eliminating Kings from Indian Premier League 2023, it came on the back of poor decisions right through the match as per Dhawan.

Calling a spade a spade, Dhawan took the onus upon himself for committing errors as the leader of the side. Dhawan, who had previously rued the absence of a specialist off-spinner in their squad, asked left-arm othrodox spinner Harpreet Brar (0/39) to bowl three out of the last five overs in the first innings.

Dhawan, who had one and two overs left of pacers Kagiso Rabada (0/36) and Arshdeep Singh (0/21) respectively, earned severe disapproval from the cricketing fraternity for asking a spinner to bowl in the death overs on a pitch which has always had something in it for the pacers. Dhawan’s bizarre decision defeated the whole purpose of Punjab playing four pacers which also included Sam Curran (2/36) and Nathan Ellis (0/46).

Shikhar Dhawan Pinpoints What Cost Punjab Kings the Match vs Delhi Capitals

Speaking to host broadcaster Star Sports Network after a heartbreaking 15-run loss, Dhawan admitted how his decisions backfired in a much-win match. Readers must note that Brar leaking 23 runs in the 20th over ended up becoming the difference between the two teams eventually.

“I feel that even my decision of bowling [the] spinner [in the] last over backfired. I feel the momentum also went there. Before that, my fast bowler [Nathan Ellis] got hit for 18-20 [18] runs. Those two overs cost us the game.”

Dhawan, whose 12th IPL duck came after a 30-month period, was also at fault for electing to field first after winning the toss on Wednesday. The 37-year old player also lamented a poor start to a 214-run chase where they didn’t score a run on the first seven balls in addition to losing his wicket.

“We lost the first wicket in the second over. I got out. And the first over [Khaleel Ahmed to Prabhsimran Singh] also went maiden. Of course, we lost six balls over there. Usually it doesn’t happen but this time it happened.”

PBKS will now host Rajasthan Royals in their last league match of the ongoing 16th season of the IPL at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Friday. Both the teams have 12 points to their names after winning six and losing seven matches thus far.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More