Punjab Kings bowler Rishi Dhawan surprised
IPL fans when he wore a face protection guard while bowling the 5th over of the
Chennai Super Kings innings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

Also Read: Dhawan becomes second batter to score 6000 IPL runs, joins Kohli

Dhawan bowled a decent 5th over, giving
away just 7 runs. He also castled Shivam Dube to take a wicket, but it was his
faceguard that was the talking point of the night as netizens wondered what it
was. Cricket fans are familiar with helmets and the use of hockey’s face and
head protection gear by wicketkeepers.

This is not a unique thing as New
Zealand player Andrew Ellis sported a customized helmet in 2019 when bowling to
avoid any kind of injury in blitzkrieg T20 cricket.

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Ellis had sported a faceguard, which is
more common in baseball than cricket, in the match between
Canterbury and Northern Districts in a Ford Trophy match back in 2019.

According to India Today, Rishi Dhawan got injured while playing in the Ranji Trophy because of which he used the faceguard.

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings captain
Ravindra Jadeja won the toss and asked Punjab Kings to bat first. Shikhar
Dhawan struck his second fifty of the season to power Punjab Kings to 187 for
4.

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The 36-year-old left-handed batter
anchored the PBKS innings with a brilliant 88 not out and built a 110-run
partnership for the second wicket with Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa (42) after
captain Mayank Agarwal’s early dismissal.

Dhawan hit nine fours and two sixes in
his 59-ball innings. He, meanwhile, became the second cricketer to score 6000 runs in
IPL after Virat Kohli.

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On a slow pitch, Dhawan got ample
support from Rajapaksa, who scored 42 from 32 balls with the help of two fours
and as many sixes as the duo frustrated the CSK bowlers for a long stretch in
the innings.

Later in the innings, Liam Livingstone,
who was bought for Rs 11.5 crore in the IPL auction, played a little cameo of
19 runs off seven balls with the help of four and two sixes towards the end to
swell the Punjab total as PBKS post 187 for 4 in 20 overs.