IPL 2020: Twitterati not happy with Shikhar Dhawan for his slow knock against Mumbai Indians

Delhi Capitals (DC) have had a great time in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), winning five out of their first seven matches. However, Shikhar Dhawan, one of the batters, is yet to show his best in the tournament. The left-hander has 201 runs at an average of 33.50 and it can’t be said that the left-hander hasn’t been amongst the runs in the cash-rich extravaganza.

However, it’s his strike-rate of 125.62 that has been the most concerning for Shreyas Iyer and Co. On Sunday, in the match against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Dhawan scored 69 runs off 52 balls with the help of six fours and one six. But again, he played at a strike-rate of 132.69 despite playing for the entire duration of the 20 overs. It goes without saying that he failed to press the accelerator.

It was only because of cameos from Marcus Stoinis and Alex Carey that the Capitals went past the 160-run mark. DC managed 162 runs for the loss of four wickets. Skipper Iyer also contributed, scoring 42 runs off 33 balls with five fours. For Mumbai, Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar didn’t get a wicket, but they gave only 53 runs from their eight overs at less than seven runs per over.

Shikhar Dhawan’s knock goes in vain

In the meantime, Dhawan’s knock wasn’t enough to take the Capitals to their sixth victory. While defending their score, DC started in a handsome manner as Axar Patel accounted for Rohit Sharma’s wicket. But then Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav put DC under extreme pressure. Both the batters scored half-centuries and took the Mumbai-based franchise close to victory.

In the end, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya showed calm heads and took MI over the line with a couple of balls to spare. Mumbai’s victory also meant that the Capitals were pushed down to second in the points table. After DC’s defeat, the users on Twitter weren’t happy with Dhawan by any means.

They lashed out at the southpaw for not stepping on the gas in the death overs when DC needed quick runs. Twitterati also wasn’t happy that he won the ‘Gamechanger of the Match’ award despite being on the losing side.

Here’s how the netizens reacted:

What is the criteria of this award yr???🤣 He is the sole reason of the loss of today's match. Faced 45% balls of the game and scored around 40% runs of the total.

— Gupta🇮🇳 (@oye_kamchor) October 11, 2020

🤣🤣🤣🤣😹😹😹😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😹😹😹😹

— Prithvi (@The_BeardMan_) October 11, 2020

Paise inaam me dekar beijjati karna ise kehte hain.
Well played Slow Innings by @SDhawan25
😁😁😁😅😅😅😅😅

— naman sharma (Sunny) (@namzcool4ya) October 12, 2020

Truly game-changer helped MI win the match by his test knock

— Troll IPL ❼ (@fakeeIPL) October 11, 2020

Sach me bhai wo ODI aur test me hi khelna chahiye itna ball waste kiya

— Soumik Paul (@paulsoumik12) October 11, 2020

pic.twitter.com/UcnR39TXOO

— Shaan Nagar (@Falana_Dikana) October 12, 2020

Yes he changed the game towards MI. By the way does he know that he is playing a T20 match and not an ODI ? 🧐

— Srinivas Senapati (@1980_srinu) October 12, 2020

That cheque needs returning to the issuer – Dhawan’s innings was too slow and ultimately cost Dehli the match. #MI #IPL2020

— Matthew Lee (@MatthewLee_95) October 11, 2020

You can say that,he helped mumbai to win the match ,taking too much balls to score

— $hadaß Alam (@shadab_spartan) October 11, 2020

Dream 11 Gamechanger for Mumbai Indians.

— Vasu Vashisht (@vasu_vashisht12) October 11, 2020

Definitely he's the game changer..!
Thanks for giving 15 to 20 runs short in target @SDhawan25 @DelhiCapitals

— ರಿತಿಕ್ ಗೌಡ | RITHIK GOWDA (@imrithik83) October 11, 2020

Gamechanger for MI 🤣
He can only play in Powerplay overs

— CA Ankur Bansal (@CAnkurBansal) October 11, 2020