There is nothing complicated about Shikhar Dhawan. And that reflects in his batting. So no matter what the condition and situation is, he tries to keep things as simple as possible. At 28 for 2 India were in a spot bother but changing gears came naturally to Shikhar to score his second consecutive hundred in Test cricket. “I don’t think it was hard for me to cut down my game. I enjoy playing like this also sometimes and I was enjoying leaving the ball. The team needed that kind of batting and that’s what I delivered from my team,” Shikhar said.
Against fast bowlers Dhawan was firm and sure and against spinners he was supple and mostly on his feet. He didn’t allow Sri Lankan bowlers to create any sort of pressure. His innings was a classic mixture of caution and aggression. Under the watchful eyes of Team Director Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar team has worked very hard get this balance right.
“Our support staff has been really great especially Sanjay bhai our batting coach. When we arrived here we played that practice game so that’s how we got used to the conditions over here. And then we practiced sweeps and stepping out and as it is a turning track so… we have to make sure that we don’t let the bowler bowl on the same line and length. So yeah we introduced these shots in our game. That’s what we did as a batting unit with Sanjay bhai and other support staff.
Just like the sea of the Galle, Dhawan has seen many high and low tides in his career. And there was one of those phases in Australia where nothing worked for him. But team backed him to the hilt and he backed his own game to be here.
“I didn’t change anything major things, little tweak, when you change little things the impact is big and yeah so after that Australia series even in the World Cup I played really good and I have been doing consistently well in international circuit.”
Dhawan anchored the innings and one of the batsmen will have to do that job specially when you have five specialist batters in the team. He along with his captain and state-mate Virat Kohli batted for 64.1 overs to stitch at 227 runs partnership to put India in this position of strength.
Their effort is even more staggering when you consider the second best partnership of this match was of 79 runs between Angelo Mathews and Chandimal.” We discussed things in the middle and we discussed our plans. And if someone, suppose I am going wrong with anything, they tell me you know calm down that’s a pretty normal thing and yeah Virat played really nicely too. And our partnership made a huge difference in that total.”
Every player has to evolve with time. And those who constantly work on their game at this level can survive the heat of international cricket. And Dhawan is no different. With time his game has become tighter and his thought process has matured. “I feel my shot selection has got better, so that’s why I am not getting out on 20s-30s now. I am mot giving more chances to the opposition and that’s made the major difference in my batting.”
Maturity in Dhawan’s game reflect the maturity of this young Indian Test side. And if India manage to win this Test, this could be the start of the good times for Dhawan and India.
