Shikhar Dhawan slams Jonny Bairstow, Jitesh Sharma for falling to Mayank Yadav after loss to LSG

Shikhar Dhawan wasn’t able to lead his team to a victory in the 11th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) against the Nicholas Pooran-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday, March 30.

Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and decided to have a go with the bat in the match. They were put under pressure by the Punjab Kings bowlers as KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal were dismissed inside the powerplay for low scores.

However, Quinton de Kock held his fort very well and even though not a quick one, he hit a good half-century. The next two significant contributions came from the bat of Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya.

Both the players played aggressive cricket and played a key role in LSG posting 199/8 on the board. Chasing the target, Shikhar Dhawan (70) and Jonny Bairstow (42) showcased a batting masterclass and helped Punjab Kings breach the 100-run mark inside 11 overs.

At one point, PBKS looked set for the win, but they weren’t able to cross the finish line and were restricted to 178/5. The reason behind Punjab Kings losing from the winning position was the LSG debutant Mayank Yadav, who bowled consistently at over 150kph and bagged 3 wickets to help his team win by 21 runs.

They played well, pity that Livi (Livingstone) got injured – Shikhar Dhawan

At the post-match presentation ceremony, Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan expressed disappointment over Liam Livingstone getting injured in the match. Shikhar Dhawan said:

“They played well, pity that Livi (Livingstone) got injured, that hurt us, he would have come at 4.”

Shikhar Dhawan further showered high praise on the LSG pacer Mayank Yadav and said that the debutant took him by surprise. The PBKS skipper revealed that he told Jonny Bairstow and Jitesh Sharma to use Mayank Yadav’s pace against him but they failed. He said:

“We started off well, but Mayank bowled well with his pace. It was nice facing him, I was surprised at his pace, but I wanted to use his pace against him, but he bowled the bouncers and the yorkers well.

“I was quite mindful, asked the batters to use the short side and use his pace, but he bowled into his body (on Bairstow’s dismissal) and got him OUT, I said the same to Jitesh as well.”

Shikhar Dhawan added that they need to analyze their defeats and come up with better plans in the next match. He also blamed the dropped catches for the loss of the Punjab Kings. Shikhar Dhawan stated:

“But Mohsin bowled really well, he kept a good length and suffocated us. We will have to analyse these defeats, the drop catch did cost us some momentum. That’s something we’ll have to improve going forward.”

After starting off with a win in the Indian Premier League 2024, Punjab Kings have suffered back-to-back losses. Although they have a good team on paper, Shikhar Dhawan & Co. would be looking forward to coming up with better plans in upcoming matches to avoid yet another finish in the bottom half of the table.