Shikhar Dhawan, who is the captain of Punjab Kings, was a big surprise when he did not come for the toss today. Today, the PBC match is being played with Rajasthan Royals in Mullanpur, Chandigarh. In Dhawan’s absence, star PBKS all-rounder Sam Curran came for the toss along with RR’s Sanju Samson. RR won the toss and decided to bowl first. After this, Curran revealed the reason for Dhawan’s absence.
Shikhar Dhawan Injured
Speaking after the toss, Curran revealed that Shikhar Dhawan is out of the match due to a minor injury.
“Shikhar Dhawan has a minor injury, that’s why I am here,” Curran said.
“We would have also liked to bowl first, but now we have to put runs on the board. The balance of the team is good, we wanted to win a few more matches, but the middle-order looks good, especially with Shashank (Singh) and Ashutosh (Sharma). We have exciting players and a lot of quality too. Atharva Taide has come in place of Shikhar for tonight, (Liam) Livingstone is also coming back,” he added.
For Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin have also been ruled out of the match, revealed by captain Sanju Samson during the toss.
After winning the toss, Samson said, “We will bowl first, the wicket looks good to bowl first. We have set a target not to think about the goal, focus on the process, work on building the team and we are doing well. There are many challenges outside as well, many players are missing from tonight’s game. 90% of the game was good – Jos (Buttler) is not 100% fit, Ash (R Ashwin) bhai is also injured, so Rovman (Powell) and (Tanush) Kotian are in the XI today.
