Nagpur. Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, who cracked a breezy unconquered 73 runs in the warm up match against South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium, had followed his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s advice.
During the recent Asia Cup, Dhoni had remarked that he wants Dhawan to stay at the wicket for at least 20 to 30 deliveries. Dhoni knew that if Dhawan stayed that many balls then he will play a big knock.
India lost the warm-up match by four runs chasing South Africa’s impressive total of 196 for 8 in 20 overs made through fine knocks from Quinton De Kock’s 56 runs off 33 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes and JP Duminy’s 67 off 44 balls with six boundaries and three sixes.
India could manage only 193 for 3 through knocks from Dhawan who stayed more than 30 balls. In fact from just 53 balls he hit 73 with ten boundaries and retired. So did Suresh Raina who cracked 41 off 26 balls with three boundaries to two sixes. Dhoni too hit a breezy unbeaten 31.
Talking after the match, Dhawan said: “As an individual, it was a good learning for me as I batted till the 15th-16th over, so with my calculation for the next coming games, I will be better. It was a good learning for me and I got more wiser.”
Dhawan is not only happy with his performance but other members of the team too despite the defeat. “We have got depth in our side in both batting and bowling. We also have got a very good all-rounder in Hardik (Pandya) who is performing. He just came in the side and have been performing from the word go. That is a big positive and we got experience now in our side.”
Dhawan is also inspired by another great hard-hitter and experienced Yuvraj Singh. “Yuvi pa’s presence makes huge difference for all youngsters and of course their experience comes in handy. Because of all these reasons, I feel why everyone is rating us the best. We guys have been winning consistently and from those wins we are getting a lot of confidence and we are building our confidence game after game.”
Dhawan is not bothered about the expectations from the Indian fans. “We are now got used to the expectations of home crowd. We stay close as a family. We’ll try to share the burden of expectation as a group and not individuals. We are playing at home and expectations of home crowds will always be there. We are also used to that,” he said.
Dhawan was also asked why India could not overcome South Africa’s total with good finishers in the side. “It does not happen that the best finishers will always guarantee you to complete the task. Everyone gave their best and that’s what matters. We were chasing such a big total, and wickets fell early on, after that there was a good partnership and came so close. We learnt a lot from this game. What we have learnt today, will be implemented in the future,” he said.
