Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin heaped praise on Indian wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Sharma for his explosive knock against five-time champions in Mohali. Shikhar Dhawan-led suffered their fifth defeat in the league stage on Wednesday against Mumbai Indians.
The 29-year-old played a brilliant knock alongside their star all-rounder Liam Livingstone in the middle order to help his side surpass 200 run mark for the fourth consecutive time in IPL 2023. The Punjab batters stitched a partnership of 119 runs for the 4th wicket to help the Punjab Kings post a total of 214-3 at the end of 20 overs.
Speaking on Jitesh Sharma’s batting against Mumbai Indians, Brad Haddin lauded him as the fearless cricketer, who has the unique ability to attack from the ball one at any point of the innings and reckons that he has gained a lot of confidence going into the business end of the tournament.
“Once he goes out there, he’s no fear of the game. He has the unique ability to go on the attack from ball one, He’s developing nicely. He has gained a lot of confidence as the tournament is going on and that is reflected in him tonight,” Brad Haddin said.
In the games against Mumbai Indians, Jitesh Sharma showcased his brilliant finishing skills to score 49* runs off 27 balls including five fours and two sixes complementing the England hard-hitting batter Liam Livingstone from one end.
“He played really well in the previous games but only faced 10 balls and tonight we wanted him to go up the order and give him the opportunity to face more balls,” he added.
Punjab Kings’ talented wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma was one of the most impressive uncapped cricketers in the country. Jitesh had impressed one and all with his shot-making and finishing abilities and has also been impressed with his work behind the stumps.
Suryakumar Yadav’s Innings Is Pretty Special – Brad Haddin
Brad Haddin revealed that their bowlers could not bowl according to the team’s plan in the final 10 overs as they gave few easy balls to Mumbai Indian batters to score runs in the middle overs. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan were on the roll in the middle taking on Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh, and Rahul Chahar.
“We didn’t execute what we needed to in the last 10 overs and allowed the Mumbai Indian batters to get on a roll,” he said.
Haddin further asserted that it is difficult to bowl for Suryakumar Yadav as hits in different parts of the ground and lauded him for his well-composed innings against their team
“He hits in different areas. The way he controlled the middle part of the game was outstanding. His innings were pretty special,” Brad Haddin added.
Punjab Kings will take on underperforming two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in their next encounter on May 8 in the iconic Eden Gardens.