Shikhar Dhawan completes 50th half-century of IPL career, becomes third player to do so

He accomplished this milestone in his side's IPL 2023 match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

In the match, when wickets were falling from the other end, Shikhar played a cautious knock of 57 runs in 47 balls, which consisted of nine fours and a six. His runs came at a strike rate of 121.27.

He is the second Indian after Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and third overall after David Warner (Delhi Capitals) to have completed a half-century of half-centuries. Warner has the most fifties in IPL history, a total of 57. Virat and Dhawan have fifty half-centuries each.

Warner also holds the record of having the most fifty-plus scores in IPL history, a total of 61 such scores including his four centuries. Virat also has 55 fifty-plus scores in IPL, including his five centuries. Shikhar has a total of 52 fifty-plus scores in his IPL career, including two fifties.

Overall, Shikhar has scored 6,593 runs at an average of 35.93 and a strike rate of 127.16. He has scored two centuries and 50 half-centuries in his IPL career, with best score of 106. He is the second-highest run-scorer in IPL history, behind Virat (7,043 runs) and above Warner (6,211 runs).

In the current season so far, the skipper has scored 349 runs at an average of 58.16 and a strike rate of 143.62. He has scored three half-centuries this season, with the best score of 99*. He is the ninth-highest run-scorer in IPL 2023.

Coming to the match, a half-century by skipper Shikhar Dhawan and late cameos by Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar guided Punjab Kings to a competitive 179/7 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Eden Gardens on Monday.

After PBKS was reduced to 53/3 in the powerplay, a 53-run stand between Shikhar and in-form Jitesh Sharma (21) seemed to push PBKS back in the game. But the visitors lost their direction once again. But in the final two overs, Shahrukh (21*) and Harpreet (17*) smashed 36 runs collectively, with 21 runs coming in the final over, to take PBKS to a fighting total.

Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.

PBKS is at the seventh spot in the points table with five wins and five losses. They have a total of 10 points. KKR is in the eighth position in the points table with four wins and six losses. They have a total of eight points. KKR had won their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad while PBKS had lost their last match against Mumbai Indians.

Punjab replaced Matthew Short with Bhanuka Rajapaksa while KKR fielded an unchanged side.

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy. (ANI)