DC vs PBKS: You Should Never Drop A Player Who Is In Form - Harbhajan Singh Slams Punjab For Replacing Bhanuka Rajapaksa With Jonny Bairstow

Former Indian player Harbhajan Singh lashed out at Punjab Kings for dropping in-form player Bhanuka Rajapaksa from the team. The Sri Lankan left-handed batter played the first three games for PBKS and scored 83 runs at a staggering strike rate of 230.56.

The southpaw scored 22-ball 43 runs in the first game against Royal Challengers Bangalore to set the platform for his side to chase 206. Rajapaksa was replaced by England’s swashbuckling player Jonny Bairstow, who hasn’t delivered up to his esteemed standards.

You drop Bhanuka Rajapaksa for Jonny Bairstow only for reputation: Harbhajan Singh

In four innings, Bairstow amassed 41 runs with scores of 8, 12, 12 & 9 averaging 10.25 runs per innings. Harbhajan said PBKS shouldn’t have dropped Rajapaksa from the team after the latter displayed terrific form in the initial stage of the tournament.

“You should never drop a player who is in form. When someone is doing well for you and you drop him for Jonny Bairstow only for reputation and assume that he would score big runs, that doesn’t work,” Harbhajan told Sportskeeda.

“Whenever a player is doing well, you need to continue with him even if a senior player is sitting out because you need to think of the team first,” he added. 

Punjab Kings were bowled out for 115 by a strong-willed bowling attack of Delhi Capitals on Wednesday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Skipper Mayank Agarwal returned to the side and got off to a flier with four boundaries against Shardul Thakur in the first three overs.

Delhi Capitals pacer Mustafizur Rahman got Mayank Agarwal’s inside edge before crashing into the stumps with a short of the length delivery. After Mayank’s 24 in 15 balls, PBKS batting faltered as barring wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma (32 in 23 balls), no other player could deliver runs to tick the scoreboard.

Delhi Capitals openers David Warner and Prithvi Shaw got a frolicking start to their chase, pouncing 81 runs in the powerplay as they completed the mere target in just 10.3 overs. Harbhajan said Punjab lacked a player who could assume the anchor’s role in their team.

“Punjab play the brand of cricket where they keep on attacking even if a couple of wickets or three wickets fall in the powerplay. Whenever you lose wickets, there needs to be a partnership through sensible batting, which they aren’t doing at the moment,” Harbhajan said.

“Punjab do need to find an anchor for their innings. Shikhar Dhawan can do that role but apart from him, all the other batters look to hit sixes. Don’t forget the basics of the game as even singles and doubles are a part of T20 cricket and not just sixes,” he added. 

PBKS will play their next game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 25 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

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