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Punjab Kings will have to wait for another two to three days on the availability of captain Shikhar Dhawan, which puts him a doubtful starter for Saturday’s clash against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
Dhawan sustained a shoulder injury during Punjab King’s match against Gujarat Titans here on April 13. Despite missing two matches since then, he is still among the top five most prolific batters this season with 233 runs in four matches at an average of 116.50.
“It should take around 2-3 days more,” PBKS’ fielding coach Trevor Gonsalves told the media when asked about Dhawan’s injury update.
PBKS lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs on Thursday.
Talking about the match, Gonsalves said, “It was a good wicket to bat on. We got them at a god enough score, but we lost a few wickets early on.” PBKS were bowled out for 150 in 18.2 overs, while chasing 175.
India and RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj grabbed 4/21 to do most of the damage during Punjab’s run chase.
“He (Siraj) is one of the best in the world at the moment,” said RCB’s bowling coach Adam Griffith.
“Even in the last game where (almost) 440 runs were scored, he went for (just) 30. Not just today, he has been bowling well for the whole tournament and even before that. We saw how well he was bowling for India.
“He is our leader and sets the tone upfront with the ball and it is no coincidence that our powerplays have been so good with the ball so far in the tournament,” he added.
Griffith said Siraj has been able to control his length exceptionally well and was not falling into the trap of pitching the ball up to swing it.
“He is still swinging it from that really aggressive length that the batter cannot get in or get down to drive him. His ability to get the ball come back into the right-hander and go across the left-hander has been a real showcase for him,” he explained.
Griffith also said Australia’s Josh Hazlewood, who is recovering from an Achilles tendonitis injury, still needs some time to be available for selection.
“He stayed in Bangalore to continue with his preparation and is going really well. He has got a couple of things to tick off for Cricket Australia to sign off so that he is available to play.
“But he is doing everything possible he can to make sure he is good to go. We will get back and assess him,” Griffith added.
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