Why Is Sam Curran Leading PBKS Over Vice-Captain Jitesh Sharma In Dhawan's Absence?
Curran is leading PBKS in Shikhar Dhawan's absence (AP Photo)
In a surprising turn of events, Sam Curran walked out for the toss for the Punjab Kings citing a niggle for Shikhar Dhawan. What seemed more surprising was that Jitesh Sharma, who represented PBKS in the pre-season captains' photoshoot didn't turn up as the stand-in captain.
Although there is no official news or reports regarding this, it can be assumed that the experience factor came into play as the England international came in as the stand-in skipper over Jitesh, who is relatively new to the scene.
Even last season, when Dhawan missed three games for Punjab, Curran was the chosen one to do the job for them. He led them to victory in two out of the three games that he led.
Losing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru while chasing 175. They chased 160 against Lucknow Supergiants where he took the responsibility and scalped 3 for 31. In the final game that he captained, they scored 215 against Mumbai Indians where he scored 55 (29).
On the other hand, Jitesh Sharma has never led a team in his career. As important as he has been in his first two seasons for PBKS, they don't look very keen to hand him that responsibility, having already just won 2/5 games this season.
In his time with the team, Sharma has also produced impressive numbers as a finisher, scoring 620 runs in 29 innings so far with a strike rate of 155.8 meanwhile also earning his India debut for consistency in IPL and domestic circuit.
Atharva Taide has replaced Shikhar Dhawan in the game against Rajasthan Royals. He played 7 games for them in the 2023 season while scoring 186 runs at an average of 31 and strike rate of 144. He also got to his first IPL fifty against LSG in 2023 where he scored 66 (36).
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