Our captain, Shikhar Dhawan, believes that our team, Punjab Kings (PBKS), will be back stronger next season after missing out on a spot for playoffs in the ongoing TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign.

Sam Curran’s unbeaten 49 off 31 balls with contributions from wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma (44) and Shahrukh Khan (41*), helped us post a competitive total of 187/5 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in our final league match in Dharamshala.

However, twin fifties from Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal helped RR chase down the total with two balls to spare. With the four-wicket defeat, our TATA IPL 2023 campaign ended on a disappointing note.

Dhawan took to Twitter, expressing that the team gave their best on the field. He also appreciated the team’s support staff and fans around the world.

“A well-fought tournament, a couple of close games. At the end of the day, we gave our best and played the best possible cricket. We’ll come back stronger next season. Thank you to the wonderful support staff, team PBKS and the lovely fans across the globe,” Dhawan wrote on Twitter.

The 37-year-old also voiced that the team will take a lot of learnings from this season.

“We could have done better in all the areas, I think. Sometimes the batting was clicking, and sometimes the bowling was clicking. We couldn’t put those performances together.

“But it’s a young group, so we have learnt a lot of things this season,” our skipper said after the match.

While our boys finished the season with six victories, we will look to bounce back with a much-improved performance in the next edition of the TATA IPL.