In last December’s IPL auction, Punjab Kings bought Shashank Singh under confusing circumstances. There were two Shashanks in the pool and for a fleeting moment, PBKS thought it had bought the wrong player, tried to take back the bid before accepting him as one of its own.
On April 4, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the 32-year-old Chhattisgarh batter showed why it was a prudent decision. He scored a swashbuckling unbeaten 61 (29b, 6x4, 4x6) as PBKS chased down a 200-run target against Gujarat Titans with three wickets and a ball to spare.
Shashank was helped in no small measure by Impact Player Ashutosh Sharma (31, 17b, 3x4, 1x6) and Jitesh Sharma (16, 8b, 2x6). GT didn’t aid itself as Umesh Yadav dropped Ashutosh at deep square-leg when he was still on three.
