Rest of the Batters Will Have to Score Runs: Aakash Chopra Feels Punjab Kings Are Overdependent on Shikhar Dhawan

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra suggested that the Punjab Kings have become overdependent on their skipper Shikhar Dhawan in the batting department this season. Dhawan took over the captaincy charge of PBKS this season and has scored 225 runs in three matches which includes two half-centuries. He also holds the Orange Cap at the moment.

Dhawan played one of the best knocks in the Indian Premier League against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Punjab Kings’ last match. The southpaw held his ground strong when other batters failed to put up a fight against the hosts. PBKS kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Dhawan turned out to be a lone warrior and scored an unbeaten 99 runs while his team ended up scoring 143/9.

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Ahead of Punjab’s match against Gujarat Titans, Chopra pointed out Dhawan has scored the majority of runs for his team while other batters have failed to live up to the expectations so far.

“Punjab have become slightly overdependent on Shikhar Dhawan. The law of averages was against Jos Buttler too but he scored runs. It is against Shikhar as well but he also scores runs and he scores a lot of runs against this team,” said Chopra on his YouTube Channel.

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The cricketer-turned-commentator also pointed out that Dhawan has a good record against Gujarat Titans bowlers.

“He gets out to Rashid Khan but has never gotten out to Mohammad Shami to date – he has scored more than 100 runs against him. His match-up against the rest of them is also very good,” Chopra added.

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Pointing out the Punjab Kings batters’ performance in the last match, Chopra said that the other players have to stand up and give able support to their skipper Dhawan in the batting department.

“The rest of the batters will have to score runs. They have not scored runs that strongly, to be very honest. In the last match, Shikhar scored 99 and the entire team together scored 44 at the other end. So you want some contributions from there,” said Chopra.

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