Shikhar Dhawan Hits IPL 50s Record
Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan gave a stunning performance in their second match of the 2023 Indian Premier League against Rajasthan Royals. Dhawan’s unbeaten 86 runs off 56 balls, including 9 fours and three sixes, helped PBKS reach a massive score of 197/4 in 20 overs.
This score also earned him a spot in an elite list of batters, with only two others, David Warner (60) and Virat Kohli (50), having registered 50+ scores in IPL history before this match.
While Dhawan achieved the milestone in 207 innings, Kohli did it in 216 innings. The record for the most 50+ scores in IPL history is held by David Warner, who has scored 60 such scores.
Overall, Dhawan has six 50+ scores each against the Mumbai Indians, the Kolkata Knight Riders, and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Apart from equaling Kohli’s record, Dhawan also became the highest run-scorer against the Rajasthan Royals, scoring a total of 652 runs.
Before the Guwahati T20, Dhawan had scored 576 runs from 22 matches at a strike rate of 126.59 against the Rajasthan Royals. His knock of 85 runs in this match against the Royals was what helped him reach the new high score.
In his IPL career so far, Dhawan has scored 6370 runs in 208 matches, with an impressive average of 35.58 and a strike rate of 126.71. He has smashed 48 fifties and two centuries in the tournament.
Other Highlights in the Match
Aside from Dhawan, plenty of players showed a strong performance in the IPL game. Prabhsimran punished the Rajasthan bowlers from the outset, hitting Trent Boult and KM Asif for boundaries in the first two overs.
He was particularly brutal on Asif, hammering him for three fours and a six in the fourth over. He didn’t spare Boult or Ravichandran Ashwin either, hitting them for boundaries as Punjab raced to 63/0 in the Powerplay.
With a half-century in his kitty, Prabhsimran continued to punish the Rajasthan bowlers, welcoming Boult back for his second spell with a flat-batted six down the ground. Unfortunately, he got caught by Jason Holder, bowled by Jos Buttler, and his fabulous innings ended.
Dhawan took over from there, playing some well-timed shots to get to his half-century in 36 balls. Jitesh Sharma also showcased his batting prowess with a quickfire 27 off 15 balls, including a monstrous six off Boult.
Spinners Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal were able to stem the run flow momentarily as they picked the wickets of Jitesh and Sikandra Raza in quick succession. Holder then took a wicket and conceded just seven runs to restrict Punjab under the 200-run mark.
Before the match, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bowl at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, which is also the home stadium for Royals all-rounder Riyan Parag.
Interestingly, RR and PBKS had won their respective first matches of the season before this encounter.
Overall, it was a dominant performance from the Punjab Kings, with both their openers putting on a clinic against the Rajasthan Royals attack. With the IPL season heating up, it will be interesting to see if they can maintain this form and make a push for the playoffs.
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