Veteran Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan on Wednesday returned to competitive cricket in the DY Patil T20 Cup with a fighting 28-ball 39. However, Dhawan’s attacking innings went in vain as the opening batter’s team DY Patil Blue lost by a single run against the Tata Sports Club.
Dhawan, who last played competitive cricket for Punjab Kings in IPL 2023, returned to action with the T20 tournament and played with the same fluency without any major jitters. The veteran batter will be leading the Punjab Kings in IPL 2024 and he took part in the DY Patil T20 Cup as part of his preparations for the franchise league.
The Tata Sports Club batted first and set a target of 186 for DY Patil Blue. Dhawan, opening the innings, played an aggressive innings of 28-ball 39 and shared a 64-run stand with Abhijit Tomar in 7.1 overs.
The batter played some fantastic shots including 5 fours and 2 sixes but it wasn’t enough as the DY Patil Blue finished with 184 runs, falling one run short of the final target.
Former India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik playing for Blue was dismissed for a first ball duck but with the gloves took the important catch of Samarth Vyas.