In the absence of Shikhar Dhawan, youngster Sam Curran was handed the baton to lead Punjab Kings in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Notably, under his able leadership, Punjab defeated Lucknow Super Giants earlier in the IPL 2023 season but against RCB, Curran struggled with certain decisions as former India cricketer Virender Sehwag pointed out
The 44-year-old mentioned that he expected the all-rounder to put up a show with the bat but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Sehwag mentioned that Curran should have shown more maturity with the bat and should have taken the game deep but the cricketer ended up losing his wicket in a poor fashion. He eventually criticised him for being lazy while running between the wickets and stated that 18 crores will not buy Punjab the experience they need. Notably, the England international was dismissed on 10 as the home side lost the match by 24 runs.
“He’s an international player. But you can’t buy experience with 18 crore. It only comes when you play, when your hair turns white as you play under the hot sun. We think just because he was bought for 18 crore, he will win you matches. But he doesn’t have that experience yet,” the legendary opener stated.
It was poor running, there was no need for that. You’re captain, you should’ve stayed, tried to take it to the final overs. But again, the lack of experience cost him,” Sehwag said while talking to Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis once again set the tone of the match for RCB. They started really well and courtesy of which, the visiting team posted 174 runs on board. With the ball, Mohammed Siraj was phenomenal, picking up four wickets while Wanindu Hasaranga picked up two. Siraj was brilliant with both the new ball and in the death stages. As a result, RCB restricted PBKS to 150 runs to win the game.
Meanwhile, Liam Livingstone finally made it to the PBKS playing XI but the England international couldn’t make an impact against RCB. He scored two runs off four deliveries and thus, the cricketer will look to improve as the Kings are currently seventh on IPL Points Table.