Guwahati: As Captain of Punjab Kings Shikhar Dhawan The start in IPL 2023 has been good. In his very first match, Dhawan played a useful inning of 40 runs. Then Punjab started the season with a win by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in that match. Now the captain of Punjab has also played a strong innings against Rajasthan Royals. In the second match of Punjab, Dhawan has scored such a half-century, which only Virat Kohli and David Warner could do before him.
Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan played an excellent inning of 86 runs in 56 balls against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati. Dhawan remained frozen till the end and he played an important role in taking the team to a strong score of 197 runs. During this innings, Dhawan also scored his 48th half-century in IPL, which was also his first half-century as the captain of Punjab.
Read this also: RR VS PBKS, IPL 2023: R Ashwin stopped his hand, then Jos Buttler got injured, Shikhar Dhawan did the theft!
Dhawan on par with Kohli
This innings of Dhawan was very special and he equaled Virat Kohli with this half-century. Dhawan scored 50 or more runs in the 50th innings in IPL. He has 48 fifties and 2 centuries to his name. He became the third Indian batsman after Virat Kohli to reach here.
FIFTY!
An excellent half-century by the @PunjabKingsIPL Skipper off 36 deliveries.
Live – https://t.co/VX8gnYK5fh #TATAIPL #RRvPBKS #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/txeqgBvaL6
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2023
Kohli touched the figure of more than 50 runs in an innings for the 50th time (45 fifties, 5 centuries) by playing an inning of 82 runs against Mumbai Indians in his very first match this season. In this case, the record is in the name of Australian veteran David Warner. Warner, who has played for Delhi and Hyderabad, has scored more than fifty times 60 times, with 4 centuries and 56 half-centuries.
#PBKS Openers going strong here in Guwahati.
At the end of the powerplay, they are 63/0
Live – https://t.co/Cmk3rElqUW #TATAIPL #RRvPBKS #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/vUCDk6f0et
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2023
read this also: IPL 2023: When there was a loss of 4.20 crores, then the bat came to life, 7 matches wreaked havoc in 34 balls
Prabhsimran Singh also dominated
Not only Dhawan, Prabhsimran Singh also played a strong innings for Punjab. The 22-year-old young opener laid the foundation for Punjab’s big score by playing an explosive inning of 60 runs in just 34 balls. However, despite a fast start, Punjab could not increase the pace of runs in the last over and instead of 200, it had to stop at 197 runs.
