IPL 2024, PBKS vs SRH - Match Criminals For PBKS Revealed!

Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow were dismissed cheaply vs SRH [AP Photos]Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow were dismissed cheaply vs SRH [AP Photos]

The Punjab Kings played Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 23rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024). This was PBKS's home game, as the match was at the Mullanpur cricket stadium. 

It was an edge-of-the-seat clash, where SRH emerged the winner by just two runs. The game saw some brilliant performances by Nitish Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Shashank Singh, and Asutosh Sharma. 

Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to field first. Arshdeep Singh made a mess of the SRH top order and put the home team in the driver's seat early in the game. However, Nitish Reddy led a great recovery job and helped the team reach 182/9 in their 20 overs. 


In the chase, PBKS struggled from the very beginning. The opening pair of Dhawan and Bairstow failed the expectations again, putting the team behind in the match. It took a brilliant effort by Shashank Singh (46 off 25) and Asutosh Sharma (33 off 15) to take the team within two runs of SRH's total. 


Why Dhawan and Bairstow are the match criminals for PBKS?

To determine the criminals of the match for PBKS, let us first look at the phase-wise comparison of the two teams. 

SRH vs PBKS Phase wise comparison of runs scored [OneCricket]SRH vs PBKS Phase wise comparison of runs scored [OneCricket]


A look at the comparison will give us an idea that SRH won the match in the powerplays and middle overs. While both teams lost three wickets in the powerplay, SRH had 40 runs on the board, and PBKS had only 27. The intent shown by Travis Head at the beginning allowed the middle-order to reassess the conditions even if they had lost early wickets. 

On the other hand, Bairstow was dismissed in the second over of the innings, and Shikhar Dhawan found it hard to get going. This, in turn, it put them way behind the required rate and led to a pressure situation that the middle order could not handle. With names like Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow, PBKS would have hoped for a solid start in a big chase, and that did not happen, ultimately leading to their close defeat. 


This is not the first time this duo has failed to deliver what was expected. In the five matches in IPL 2024, the opening pair of PBKS has scored 190 runs, out of which 102 came against LSG. So, the average of this pair is 38, and if you leave out the LSG match, it is just 22. This shows the highly inconsistent and volatile nature of the Dhawan-Bairstow knot. 

The PBKS batting line-up depends significantly on the top-order experience. Even though the lower-middle order has fired in the last two games, there needs to be more inexperience there, and expecting them to deliver in every game will be too high of a demand. Thus, a lot depends on the start given by Dhawan and Bairstow, and these two need to amend their ways quickly to get PBKS back on track.