Pacer Kagiso Rabada and captain Shikhar Dhawan, who skippered the Punjab Kings in their first two games before being sidelined with an injury, have been ruled out of the team’s next two games, dealing a severe blow to the Punjab Kings, who are already eliminated from the IPL-2024 playoff race. Rabada is going to return to South Africa for treatment since he has abscesses.
PBKS has nothing to play for but pride, as they are already eliminated from the postseason chase. Even if they would have liked to finish the competition on a high note, the most recent defeats have severely damaged their ambitions. Rabada and Dhawan will miss PBKS’s final two league games of the current campaign.
Rabada participated in all 11 of PBKS’s season games before sitting out the final match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The fast bowler, who is expected to recover fully shortly, is a member of South Africa’s squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. Regarding Rabada’s IPL 2024 performance, he claimed 11 wickets in 11 matches.
Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t played for PBKS since April 9:
Since April 9, skipper Shikhar Dhawan has not participated in a game for PBKS. Due to a shoulder injury, the veteran batsman will not be participating in the 2024 Indian Premier League. After five games played and 152 runs scored, Dhawan’s IPL 2024 season has concluded.
In addition to Dhawan and Rabada, PBKS will also be without Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, and Sam Curran, who were captaining the team when Dhawan was out.
To get his knee fixed before the T20 World Cup, Livingstone recently declared that he would be travelling from India to England. Conversely, Bairstow and Curran are two of the England players who are flying out of India this week to play in the Twenty20 series against Pakistan.
The English fast-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes, who left for home following the death of his father, Roger Woakes, a few days ago, would also be missed by the Punjab Kings in another setback.
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