Ian Bishop comes to Atharva Taide’s defence after PBKS batter is retired out

Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Atharva Taide had a mixed evening on Wednesday, scoring a half-century against Delhi Capitals (DC) during their IPL 2023 match in Dharamsala, only for him to get retired out in the end.

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PBKS, after all, were set a challenging 214 to win in a crucial match against DC at the HPCA Stadium, and had lost the wicket of skipper Shikhar Dhawan in the second over. Though Taide managed to steady the ship by building sizeable partnerships with Prabhsimran Singh and Liam Livingstone, Punjab were forced to retire him out and bring wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma in his place when the asking rate began to spiral out of control. Taide even looked a tad disappointed as he made his way back to the dugout.

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Cricketer-turned-commentator Ian Bishop was among those who came to Taide’s defence after the game, saying the youngster should not get disheartened by the team leadership’s decision to get him replaced, making a similar case for Mumbai Indians batter Nehal Wadhera who had a similarly disappointing outing against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday after making an impact with the bat for the most part this season.

“Taide is a young guy. He has been in and out of the team, and perhaps, went out when he should’ve been in. Like Nehal Wadhera last night, he will learn from this, and it will make him a better player. I don’t want anybody to go hard at him. Tough for a young kid learning his game,” former West Indies pacer Bishop said on ESPNCricinfo.

Punjab eventually fell short of the target set by Delhi despite Livingstone’s fighting 94 off 48 deliveries that kept them in the hunt for the most part, finishing on 198/8. While Delhi had already been eliminated from the playoffs race, and are simply playing for pride, the 15-run defeat inflicted a massive blow to Punjab’s hopes of finishing in the top four for the first time since the 2014 season, where they ended as the runners-up.

Punjab host Rajasthan Royals (RR), also at Dharamsala, in their final league match on Friday. And it’s not just a victory against RR that will take them through to the knockouts; they will also be dependent on other results going their way, with Net Run Rate (NRR) also playing a crucial role.

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