Punjab Kings faced their first defeat in IPL 2023 while Sunrisers Hyderabad secured their first victory of the season. Shikhar Dhawan, Punjab Kings skipper, expressed that captaincy does not affect him after his unbeaten 99 went in vain against Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was also SRH’s first win of the season after opening two losses.
Punjab Kings were asked to bat first and had a disastrous start as they lost Prabhsimran Singh on the very first ball of the match. The fall of wickets continued as Dhawan could only watch from the other end. However, Dhawan smashed the SRH bowlers for 12 fours and five sixes in his 66-ball knock to take his team to a respectable total. Mayank Markande was the pick of SRH bowlers with 4/15 as Punjab finished at 143/9.
In response, Rahul Tripathi played an unbeaten 48-ball 74 to help his side complete the task in 17.1 overs. Skipper Aiden Markram remained not out on 37 off 21 balls. Dhawan said that he was pleased with his knock, but they lost too many wickets, which led to their defeat. He added that he is enjoying the captaincy and has a great bunch of boys. He takes it day-by-day and captaincy does not affect him.
Markram was happy for Markande, who replaced Adil Rashid in the playing XI. He said that it was special and they are happy to win today. He added that it was still about believing in themselves and that it’s not a nice move to replace Rashid, but he is super happy for Markande.
Markram also praised Rahul Tripathi and said that he showed his class tonight. He added that it’s easy with Rahul at the other end and that it’s a great franchise to be a part of. It was their first win of the season, and it means a lot.
