31 balls were played without scoring runs in IPL, Punjab captain did this scandal
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Shikhar Dhawan, while playing for Punjab Kings in the 2023 season, played 31 dot balls in an innings, that is, he could not even open the account till 31 balls. Sunrisers Hyderabad's Marco Yanson and Mayank Markande did not allow Dhawan to play freely while bowling very economically at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
Shikhar Dhawan played 31 dot balls while playing for Punjab Kings in IPL 2023.
New Delhi. In today's current T-20 era where batsmen bat at a strike rate of 200, teams are consistently scoring innings of 250, and teams are winning matches by scoring 30 runs in the last over. Overall, this league is generally known for the rain of fours-sixes and fast batting, but there are some unique figures recorded in its history, which reveal the other truth of this format.
But it is not possible for this to happen in every match, sometimes even the batsmen have to struggle to score runs in this quick format. One such interesting record is that of playing the most number of dot balls in an innings, which shows that every big innings does not always start with a bang. This record was made by a batsman who himself has been a great T-20 player.
When no runs were scored in 31 balls
Shikhar Dhawan is the owner of this unique record. While playing for Punjab Kings in the 2023 season, he played 31 dot balls in an innings, that is, he could not even open the account till 31 balls. Sunrisers Hyderabad's Marco Yanson and Mayank Markande did not allow Dhawan to play freely while bowling very economically at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. It may be surprising to hear this figure, but the biggest twist in this story comes after this. In the same innings, Dhawan made a brilliant comeback and scored 99 runs in 66 balls. This shows how important a role patience and timing play in T20 cricket.
Tuk-tuk batting of foreign players
This record among foreign batsmen is in the name of Dwayne Bravo, who played 30 dot balls in the match against Mumbai Indians on 12 May 2009. In that match, Bravo had scored 70 runs in 59 balls. The names of former captain Aaron Finch and former West Indies opener Dwayne Smith are also included in this list. Both of them have played 29-29 dot balls in an IPL match. At the same time, Jos Buttler also did not score runs in 28 balls in a match. This shows that even in a fast format like T20, big batsmen sometimes take time to find their rhythm.
In T-20, there may be a demand to bat in the fourth gear, but changing the batting as per pitch and conditions and taking the match deep is what makes a batsman great. That is why even in the era of Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, every team needs batsmen like K Rahul and Rituraj Gaikwad who can change themselves with time.
