Punjab Kings were without their regular captain, Shikhar Dhawan, in the last game against Rajasthan Royals. He picked up a shoulder injury and was ruled out of the contest, with Sam Curran taking the captain’s responsibility. Although Punjab lost the match by 3 wickets, they had their moments in the contest. It has been revealed that Dhawan could be out for seven to ten days due to a shoulder injury. The team’s head of cricket development, Sanjay Bangar, gave the indications.

“He has a shoulder injury and is likely to be out for a few days,” he said.

“We will have to see how he responds to the treatment but it looks like that he will be out for seven to ten days,” he added.

Jitesh Sharma represented Punjab Kings at the captains’ meet at the start of the season as Dhawan was down with a fever.

It was believed that Jitesh was the vice-captain of the game. However, Curran came out for the toss against Rajasthan, which confused everyone.

“Jitesh was not the vice-captain. The confusion happened because he attended the captains’ meet before the season.

“Sam had also led the team in the previous season. He came to India late and wanted to have a few training sessions before the season, so he didn’t attend the captains’ meeting, and the management sent Jitesh.

“Jitesh was never the stand-in captain . We were clear what we had decided before the 17th season and we went accordingly. Sam Curran will lead the franchise till Dhawan return,” Sanjay Bangar said.

Bangar accepted that the top-order not scoring runs is a cause of concern.

“It is a concern for us that the top order is not firing. They are trying hard, but the results are not coming. I am not saying that they are not applying themselves correctly.

“The wicket in Mullanpur hasn’t bee good for the batting in the first six overs and both teams had difficulties in scoring runs.”

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