Punjab Kings (PBKS) suffered their fourth lack of the 2024 version of the IPL as they went down towards Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a low-scoring thriller in Mullanpur on Saturday, April 13. The match went all the way down to the wire with Punjab Kings bowlers not letting the Royals get away with the sport at any level earlier than Shimron Hetmyer‘s well timed 27* off simply 10 balls saved the Men in Pink from the blushes. However, greater than the loss, the speaking level of the match was Punjab Kings’ captaincy.Â
Sam Curran stood in for Shikhar Dhawan, who injured his shoulder within the final sport towards Sunrisers Hyderabad. But many anticipated Jitesh Sharma to take over from Dhawan if the veteran opener was going to overlook a match for any motive. Jitesh, who attended the captains’ meet in Chennai on March 21, was labelled as vice-captain by the official IPL deal with. But PBKS continued with their all-rounder Sam Curran as Dhawan’s deputy as they did it final 12 months which triggered a variety of confusion.
However, all of it was cleared by Punjab Kings’ Head of Cricket Development, Sanjay Bangar on the post-match press convention the place he confirmed that Jitesh was by no means the designated vice-captain and Curran was at all times going to face in for Dhawan, having led the facet in three matches final 12 months.
“No no, he (Jitesh) wasn’t the designated vice-captain. I think, the impression could have been because he attended the captains’ seminar or meeting at the start of the IPL but the thought was always that [of Curran standing in for Dhawan] because Sam has led the team in the previous year as well,” Bangar mentioned.
“He was late to arrive from UK and because he wanted to have a few sessions, that is the reason we couldn’t send him to Chennai for the inauguration of the season and hence Jitesh was sent because the directive from the IPL members was that a player has to attend. Because of that we sent Jitesh in. That wasn’t the case that Jitesh was the stand-in captain. We were very clear in our minds that if at all there had been an opening, Sam Curran will be taking over and doing the job as captain,” former Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru coach Bangar added.
Bangar additionally offered an update on Dhawan saying that the senior professional goes although his health routines however is prone to be dominated out of motion for 7-10 days which signifies that the Kings are prone to be with out him for Thursday (April 18) sport towards the Mumbai Indians.
