Sam Curran has been leading Punjab Kings for the past two matches in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence. Former PBKS coach, and IPL commentator cum JioCinema expert Anil Kumble feels that the stand-in captain has done a reasonably good job as a stop-gap solution for Dhawan. The veteran opener is Punjab’s leading run-scorer in IPL 2023 so far, with 233 runs in four innings.
Dhawan even narrowly missed a century earlier this season, scoring 99 runs, but due to his shoulder injury, he has sat out the last three matches for Punjab. Curran has been leading the franchise in the last three games and has helped them to two victories against Lucknow Super Giants, and Mumbai Indians, whereas they did lose to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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Curran did score a fifty in their previous outing against Mumbai, helping PBKS go past the 200-run mark, and under Dhawan’s captaincy earlier this season, their batting had left a lot to be desired with Shikhar alone firing on all cylinders.
As Shikhar Dhawan moves closer to the fag end of his career, Punjab would be looking for his long-term replacement and perhaps that’s why they went out all guns blazing behind Curran and got the Englishman for Rs 18.5 crore, making him the most expensive buy in the history of IPL auction.
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However, Kumble feels it’s still early days to think about replacing Dhawan who still has a lot to give, and the former PBKS coach said that they would be looking forward to having Dhawan back to full fitness since he’s an important figure not just as a leader, but as a pure batsman as well.
“Sam Curran has certainly done a very good job as a stop-gap for Shikhar’s absence, he’s done a wonderful job, Punjab certainly have the potential to be in the top four, it depends on a few things to go in their way but in terms of captaincy, it’s a bit too early to even think of who could lead Punjab going forward," Kumble replied to a Cricketnext query in a select media interaction.
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“I’m sure from their perspective at this point everyone will be thinking when Shikhar can come back in because Shikhar the captain is important for them but more importantly, Shikhar the batter is more important for Punjab," he added.
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