Shikhar Dhawan accepted his mistake by bowling Harpreet Brar in the last over against Delhi Capitals (Sportspix)
Shikhar Dhawan admitted that he made a mistake by bowling Harpreet Brar in the last over after Punjab Kings lost by 15 runs to Delhi Capitals.
Shikhar Dhawan admitted that his decision to allow Harpreet Brar to bowl the last over against Delhi Capitals backfired as David Warner’s side beat Punjab Kings by 15 runs in Mohali to boost PBKS’ hopes of reaching the IPL 2023 playoffs. But turned the water.
It was a day full of bizarre calls, first Dhawan bowled Harpreet Brar in the death overs despite being a substitute for Arshdeep Singh, later, he called back Atharva Taide while the middle-order batsman had scored a half-century, and this came back to haunt them. As Liam Livingstone was left to fend for himself.
The Englishmen almost pulled off a miraculous victory but Ishant Sharma kept his cool at the death, and Dhawan could only regret his mistakes despite being given several lifelines with several dropped catches from Delhi Capitals.
After Punjab’s 15-run defeat, the veteran Indian opener said it was a ‘disappointing’ result for PBKS, who had the game in their hands but have no one else but themselves to blame.
“It was disappointing. We didn’t bowl really well in the first six wickets, the way the swing was going, we should have taken a few wickets. It’s a pretty close game but can’t help it. After expected, Livy played a brilliant knock, unfortunately, we couldn’t go the other way,” Dhawan said.
Shikhar said, ‘I think my decision to bowl spin in the last over backfired. The speed also went there. Earlier my fast bowlers were hit for 18-20 runs. Those two overs cost us the game. Our bowlers didn’t pitch the ball up in the powerplay. That was the plan and unfortunately they couldn’t execute it.”
Read this also IPL 2023 Points Table Update After PBKS vs DC: Delhi Capitals Move To Ninth Spot, Punjab Kings’ Playoff Chances
Liam Livingstone top-scored with a 94 but Riley Rossouw’s 82 guided Delhi Capitals to 213/2, a very steep climb for Punjab to climb.
Dhawan also admitted that his side has been conceding too many runs in the powerplay and not taking wickets in the first six overs, which has cost them dearly in the IPL 2023 season so far.
He said, ‘In this kind of wicket, whether we take wickets or not, we should bowl in the right areas which we have not been doing for a long time. This is making us sad. We are giving 50-60 runs in every powerplay, we should also take wickets. We knew it would swing for 1-2 overs. We lost the first wicket in the second over, I got out and the first over was also a maiden – we lost six balls there,” added Shikhar.