‘Sam Curran has handled Punjab captaincy well’

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh lauded Sam Curran, who played a captain’s knock and guided Punjab Kings to a memorable win at Wankhede against a dominant Mumbai Indians side, saying that England all-rounder has handled the captaincy well in the absence of regular skipper Shikar Dhawan. Stand-in skipper Curran’s momentum-changing innings of 55 (29), Harpreet Singh’s attacking 41(28) coupled with Jitesh Sharma’s power-packed came of 25(7) powered PBKS to 214/8 in 20 overs. Arshdeep Singh then bowled a splendid spell of 4/29 as PBKS survived Cameron Green (67 off 43), Suryakumar Yadav (57 off 26) and Tim David (25 not out off 13) blitzes to win high-scoring Match 31 of IPL 2023 by 13 runs at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday night. Hailing Curran for his all-round performance in the game, former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh said the team looks strong due to players like Curran. “Sam Curran has handled the captaincy well in Shikhar’s absence. Along with the ball, he also looked impressive with the bat. The Punjab team looks strong because of players like Sam,” said Harbhajan Singh on Star Sports show Cricket Live. Meanwhile, former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif praised Hardik Pandya for his captain’s knock (66) in Gujarat Titans’s thrilling 7-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in another IPL 2023 match on Saturday, saying that the all-rounder understood the complexity of the pitch. “Hardik played an excellent innings under pressure. He came at number three only because he wanted to play till the end. After struggling in the beginning, Hardik, playing freely in his style, made the first fifty of the season. He knew that it was necessary for him to stay on the wicket because if a new batsman came in at the last minute, he could not play the shots,” said Kaif.