The Punjab Kings provided a glimpse into their tactical planning by making the smart decision to use seamer Rishi Dhawan as their Impact Player in their encounter with the Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game of IPL 2023.
Rishi Dhawan replaced half-centurion Bhanuka Rajapaksa when PBKS came out to bowl in the second of the match.
Riding on a terrific half-century from Rajapaksa, who scored 50 off 32 balls, and cameos from other batters, Punjab posted a big total of 191 runs, batting first in Mohali.
Just when the match was to resume in the second innings of the match, that if KKR’s chase, the umpire signaled for the Impact Player being used by Punjab Kings before the giant screen on the ground showed that Rajapaksa has been replaced by pacer Rishi Dhawan.
This Impact Player rule allows teams to use a player by replacing someone else, and this Impact Player can participate as a regular player.
So, Punjab Kings here got the best of both worlds: they had Rajapaksa batting – the batter smashed a superb fifty – and then since Rajapaksa doesn’t contribute with the ball, they replaced him with pacer Rishi Dhawan.
🚨 Impact Player change 🚨
Bhanuka ➡️
Rishi Dhawan ⬅️#PBKSvKKR #JazbaHaiPunjabi #SaddaPunjab #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/7FiIVA3PPC— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 1, 2023
Later in KKR’s innings, the Knight Riders also used their Impact Player: Venkatesh Iyer, who was not named in the starting XI, came to bat at number 4, coming in at the Impact Player, replacing spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who had played his role in KKR’s bowling innings.
Impact Players Substitutes called in 🔄
Varun Chakravarthy makes way for Venkatesh Iyer in KKR
Rishi Dhawan comes in for Bhanuka Rajapaksa…#IPL2023 #PBKSvsKKR #PBKSvsKKR #ImpactPlayer #TataIPL #PunjabKings #AmiKKR pic.twitter.com/BK50r9vFzp— OneCricket (@OneCricketApp) April 1, 2023
Both Venkatesh Iyer and Rishi Dhawan had been named as substitutes after the toss.
PBKS vs KKR Playing XI and Substitute list for Impact Player:
PBKS (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prabhsimran Singh(w), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
KKR (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
KKR substitutes: Suyash, Arora, Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer and David Wiese.
PBKS substitutes: Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Matt Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, and Mohit Rathee.
