"If Shikhar Dhawan gets out, this team goes down" - Aakash Chopra on Punjab Kings' IPL 2023 loss to Gujarat Titans

Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the Punjab Kings (PBKS) are found wanting in the batting department if their skipper Shikhar Dhawan does not fire with the bat.

Dhawan scored a run-a-ball eight as the Punjab Kings were restricted to 153/8 in their IPL 2023 clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Mohali on Thursday, April 13. Hardik Pandya and Co. then chased down the target with six deliveries and one delivery to spare to hand PBKS their second consecutive defeat.

While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out PBKS' overreliance on Shikhar Dhawan, saying:

"We all said that the pitch was absolutely flat and a lot of runs would be scored but they weren't because Punjab's overdependence on one man is just too much. If Shikhar Dhawan gets out, this team goes down."

The former Kolkata Knight Riders player added that the other Punjab Kings batters, barring Matthew Short to an extent, struggled to force the pace, elaborating:

"No one else is scoring that many runs and it is not looking like they will score runs. Everyone got a start, whether it was Matthew Short, Jitesh Sharma, Bhanuka Rajapaksa or Sam Curran, Matt Short at least tried to play some big shots but the others were going at a run-a-ball."

Short scored 36 runs off 24 balls, a knock studded with six fours and a six. Shahrukh Khan did smash a nine-ball 22 towards the end of the PBKS innings but the damage was already done by then.

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"That's never going to be enough" - Aakash Chopra on the Punjab Kings' below-par total

Bhanuka Rajapaksa played a painstaking knock for PBKS. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that the Punjab Kings failed to take advantage of a good batting surface, stating:

"It won't work like that because if the pitch is good, you have to play well on it. You had scored 52 runs in six overs and then you scored only 153. That's never going to be enough."

While observing that PBKS are missing Liam Livingstone, the cricketer-turned-commentator sees the England all-rounder replacing Bhanuka Rajapaksa once he is fit and available, reasoning:

"Liam Livingstone is still not available. Once he becomes available, he will come in and Bhanuka Rajapaksa will go out because Bhanuka's performance has gone down after the first match. He got injured in one match and in this match, one couldn't understand why he was going so slow."

Chopra concluded by saying that apart from the lack of batting might, Rahul Chahar's failure to pick up wickets is another concern for the Punjab Kings. The leg-spinner went wicketless against the Titans and has accounted for just two dismissals in four games.