IPL 2023: Shikhar Dhawan – Shikhar Dhawan took perfect revenge on Harsha Bhogle over the critical strike rate Tweet. The Punjab Kings (PBKS) opener played one of the best knocks in T20 cricket by slamming an unbeaten 99 off just 66 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhawan was the lone warrior for PBKS taking his side from 88 for 9 to a respectable 143. Despite wickets falling at one end, the southpaw anchored the innings well and scored runs at a strike rate of 150. Follow IPL 2023 Live Updates with InsideSport.IN.
The PBKS skipper was awarded player of the match despite being on the losing side. During the post-match presentation, Dhawan took a cheeky dig at Bhogle by saying, I hope you will be happy with my strike rate now,” Dhawan said with a big smile on his face. Bhogle replied, That was in a completely different situation,” as both men started to laugh.
IPL 2023: What was Harsha Bhogle’s critical Tweet to Dhawan?
During PBKS’s second game of the IPL 2023 season against RR, Dhawan scored 86 runs off 56 balls at a strike rate of 153.57. While the southpaw managed to accelerate in the end of the innings, he played sedately in the initial 30-odd balls. PBKS posted a healthy-looking scoring of 197 and won the match by five runs, but Bhogle felt Dhawan could have started playing aggressively at the start owing to the start given by Prabhsimran Singh.
“Shikhar Dhawan’s innings will raise, should raise, the question of whether you can have an anchor batter, especially in these conditions. You can appear to have increased your strike rate by the end, but the 30 balls at run-a-ball can hurt,” Bhogle had tweeted earlier this week.
Dhawan’s knock yet again raised the question should anchor batter be batting, especially when other batters failed to struggle, or on a slow and sluggish surface. While T20 cricket is mostly about a slam-bang approach, Dhawan proved there is room for anchor batters as well.
