‘I feel that we don't have a good off-spinner’ - Shikhar Dhawan rues absence of quality off spinner after PBKS’ loss against KKR

After a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders on May 8, Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan made a bold statement, saying that the team doesn’t have a good off-spinner in the mix and he believes that to be one of the reasons why they are leaking so many runs in almost every game.

The opener also pointed out that the surface at Eden Gardens wasn’t easy to bat on and also gave credit to Arshdeep Singh, who bowled brilliantly in the last over as KKR needed only six runs to win. His first five deliveries were spot on but in the final delivery, the pacer lost his line and length as Rinku Singh hit a boundary to help KKR win their fifth match in IPL 2023.

“Feels bad, of course not feeling great. Not an easy track to bat on, in the end they played well. It was a great effort from Arshdeep, the way he has bounced back from the last game. All credit to him that he took the game to the last ball. I feel that we don't have a good off-spinner. When left-handers come, from one end we have a leg-spinner and at the other end we have a left-arm spinner,” Dhawan said while talking to the host broadcaster after the match.

“So that's where I feel we are leaking a bit of runs. This wicket was offering turn as well so I feel that's where we took the hit,” he added.

Rinku Singh, Andre Russell steal the show in City of Joy

Chasing 180 runs, KKR were under tremendous pressure as the home team was losing wickets at regular intervals. However, Andre Russell rose to the occasion this time around and played some brilliant cricket and smashed 42 runs off 23 deliveries to bring KKR back into the contest.

Along with him, Rinku Singh once again emerged as a star, after hitting 21* runs off ten deliveries, including a boundary on the final ball. With that, KKR chased down the massive total and have now moved to number five on the IPL points table while Punjab Kings have slipped to number seven.