Shikhar Dhawan conceded his mistake by bowling Harpreet Brar in the last over against Delhi Capitals (Sportzpics)
Shikhar Dhawan conceded that he made a mistake by bowling Harpreet Brar in the last over after Punjab Kings’ 15-run defeat to Delhi Capitals
Shikhar Dhawan conceded that his decision to allow Harpreet Brar to bowl the last over against Delhi Capitals backfired as David Warner’s side defeated Punjab Kings by 15 runs in Mohali to dent PBKS’ hopes of reaching the IPL 2023 playoffs.
It was a day full of bizarre calls, first Dhawan bowled Harpreet Brar in the death overs despite having the option of Arshdeep Singh, later, they called back Atharva Taide despite the middle order batter having smashed a fifty, and it came back to haunt them as Liam Livingstone was left to do it all on his own.
The Englishman almost nearly pulled off a miraculous win but Ishant Sharma kept his nerve in the death, and Dhawan could only rue the mistakes his side made despite being handed multiple lifelines with many dropped catches from the Delhi Capitals.
Speaking after Punjab’s 15-run defeat, the veteran Indian opener said that it was a ‘frustrating’ result for PBKS who had the game in their hands but have nobody else to blame but themselves.
“It was frustrating. We didn’t bowl really well in the first six wickets, we should have taken some wickets the way it was swinging. It’s quite a close game, but can’t help it. There was hope after that no ball, Livi played a great knock, unfortunately, we couldn’t end up on the other side,” said Dhawan.
Shikhar added, “I feel my decision to bowl spin off the last over backfired. The momentum also went there. Before that, my fast bowlers got 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.”
Liam Livingstone smashed 94 runs but Rilee Rossouw’s 82-run knock had guided Delhi Capitals to 213/2 which was too steep a mountain to climb for Punjab.
Dhawan also admitted that his side has been giving away plenty of runs in the powerplay and not picking up wickets in the first six overs which has cost them dearly in IPL 2023 season so far.
“In this sort of a wicket, whether we take wickets or not, we should bowl at the right areas which we are not doing for quite a long time. That’s hurting us. Every powerplay, we have been giving 50-60 runs, we should be taking wickets as well. We knew that it’d swing for 1-2 overs. We lost the first wicket in the 2nd over, I got out and the 1st over was also a maiden – we lost six balls over there,” stated Shikhar further.