IPL 2024 - Sam Curran captain's PBKS in Shikhar Dhawan's absence; where is vice-captain Jitesh Sharma fans question

Match 27 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) witnessed a change in captaincy for the host team as skipper Shikhar Dhawan missed the game due to a niggle. While fans hoped for his speedy recovery, many expected the vice-captain, Jitesh Sharma, to take the field at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh. 

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However, that did not happen, and Sam Curran walked out for the toss against RR. Speaking at the toss, he said, "Shikhar picked up a niggle, that's why I'm here." Many fans took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to question why Jitesh was not present at the toss and why Curran was sent ahead of him despite the Indian wicketkeeper-batter being the designated vice-captain.

Speaking about being asked to bat first, Curran said, "We would have bowled first as well, but we'll now have to put the runs on the board. The balance has been good; we'd have liked to win a few more games, but the middle-order looks good, especially Shashank and Ashutosh. We've got exciting players and plenty of quality. We've Atharva Taide coming in for Shikhar tonight, and Livingstone is back as well."

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Talking about RR, their captain, Sanju Samson said, "We'll bowl first, it looks like a decent wicket to bowl first. We've made a target to not think about the goal, focus on the process, work on building the team and we're doing well. A lot of challenges outside as well, we've many players missing from tonight's game. 90% of the game was good - Jos isn't 100%, Ash bhai is having a niggle, so Rovman and Tanush Kotian come into the XI".

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Subs: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Abid Mushtaq

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada

Impact Subs: Rahul Chahar, Ashutosh Sharma, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Nathan Ellis