Shikhar Dhawan achieved another feat in his long T20 career as he played a superb knock of 88 runs against Chennai Superkings. The moment he scored his 11th run, he became only the third Indian batter to reach 9,000 runs in T20 cricket. Only Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are ahead of him. Dhawan played a scintillating knock of 88, and with Bhanuka Rajapaksa helped Punjab Kings post a respectable total after they had lost their skipper Mayank Agarwal early. Meanwhile, Dhawan also completed 6,000 IPL runs and became the second person to do so after Virat Kohli.
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Meanwhile coming back to 9,000 runs, Dhawan is dwarfed only by India’s current ODI skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Dhawan had been struggling at the international level and saw himself getting dropped from the Indian team. But he kept scoring the runs in IPL, accounting for 400 plus seasons in 2020 and 2021. Even in 2022, he has already accounted for 214 runs from the first seven matches and is going strong in tonight’s encounter as well.
“The process, I always talk about it, I focus on it. About my fitness, my approach – I keep working on those skills. Results will take care of themselves,” Dhawan said after the match.
Punjab made a slow start after being sent to bat and his captain Agarwal’s struggles this season continued as he was out in the sixth over for 18 off 21 balls. They reached 37 for 1 after powerplay overs. Dhawan and Rajapaksa kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles though without too many boundaries. The duo took Punjab to 72 for 1 at the halfway mark.
“The wicket was stopping a bit, I tried to go for the big shots, but I couldn’t connect. But I kept my calm. Once I get set, I can get those boundaries, that’s what I bank on. While batting first it’s about putting pressure on the bowlers and getting boundaries. We don’t have to lose too many wickets, that was our conscious effort,” he added.
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