IPL 2024: Why Shikhar Dhawan Isn’t Playing Today’s Game Against Rajasthan Royals?
Shikhar Dhawan has picked up a niggle and hence isn’t playing against Rajasthan Royals.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) are going head-to-head against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 27th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Saturday, April 13.
However, during the toss, instead of Punjab Kings’ captain Shikhar Dhawan, Sam Curran stepped in. Now, everyone is curious about why Shikhar Dhawan is not playing this game against Rajasthan Royals.
Why Shikhar Dhawan Isn’t Playing Today’s Game Against RR?
Sam Curran stated that Shikhar Dhawan has picked up a niggle, and hence he is missing this game against Rajasthan Royals. In his place, Atharv Taide will open the innings alongside Jonny Bairstow.
Apart from that, there is no change in the playing 11 of the Punjab Kings. One thing that is raising eyebrows is that ahead of the season, it was announced that Jitesh Sharma was the vice-captain of Punjab Kings, but instead of him, Sam Curran came to the toss.
“Shikhar picked up a niggle, that’s why I’m here. We would have bowled first as well, but we’ll now have to put the runs on the board. The balance has been good, we’d have liked to win a few more games, but the middle-order looks good, especially Shashank and Ashutosh. We’ve got exciting players and plenty of quality. We’ve Atharva Taide coming in for Shikhar tonight, Livingstone is back as well,” Sam Curran stated during the toss.
As for the match, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bowl first. Meanwhile, they also have made two changes in their lineup with Ravichandran Ashwin and Jos Buttler missing out on this game.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (C), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(WK), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada
