‘He backed me throughout my innings’ - Prabhsimran Singh credits Shikhar Dhawan for his resilient knock against Rajasthan Royals

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has seen the Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings win both of the games that they have played in the tournament so far. Finalists of the IPL 2022, Rajasthan Royals won their first game of the season in fabulous fashion, and the Sanju Samson-led side looked for a similar result in their second game as well.

As they took on Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings batted first, and got off to a sensational start thanks to resilient knocks by Prabhsimran Singh and skipper Shikhar Dhawan. The 22-year-old opener scored 60 runs in 34 deliveries, whereas Dhawan played an unbeaten knock of 86 runs.

After the game, Prabhsimran came forward to talk about how Dhawan supported him throughout his knock and how the skipper pushed him to do better. "I’m very thankful to God for my first fifty in five years of playing the IPL. It was an enjoyable knock, and I hope to continue on like this," Prabhsimran Singh said in a video released by the IPL.

"Shikhar Dhawan asked me if he should take strike since I had never faced Trent Boult before, but I told him that I’ll take the strike. He backed me throughout my innings. Whenever we spoke to each other while batting, he told me to play your natural game and express yourself, the rest I’ll handle," he added.

Rajasthan Royals handed first loss of the IPL 2023

Taking Punjab Kings on in the eighth match of the IPL 2023 in Guwahati, the visitors posted 197 runs on the board. As the inaugural champions came out to bat, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the innings for them. Both the openers were dismissed early, and further pressure was mounted on Rajasthan after star batter, Jos Buttler was sent back to the pavilion after having scored just 19 runs as well. Albeit, skipper Sanju Samson gave some hope to the side with his crucial 42-run knock. Thereafter, the Impact Player Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer formed a solid partnership towards the end of the run chase, but Punjab Kings successfully defended the target and won the game by five runs.