Monday 28th Apr, 2025
India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who scored a 71-ball century against Sri Lanka, is not thinking of being complacent despite his purple patch as there are many great batsmen in the Indian side who can take his place.
Despite hitting a purple patch in recent times, India opener Shikhar Dhawan is not thinking of being complacent as there are many “great batsmen” in the Indian side that can take his place. He also remembers the hard times when he was out of the time and said that failures have taught him a lot.
“It’s a long time (until the next World Cup). I would like to keep performing well. That would be my goal because if I don’t perform, there are such great batsmen in our side that anyone can take my place,” Dhawan said after taking India to win over Sri Lanka. “Failure teaches you a lot and I am lucky I have learnt so much out of that,” he added.
Dhawan scored a 71-ball century, his fastest in ODIs, against Sri Lanka on Sunday and guided India to a big nine-wicket win. He did not enjoy a good time last year and was dropped from the team after New Zealand series. But, he was selected for the Championships Trophy and there he got his touch back.
“I have already had a slump so I don’t think about it. When it has to come it will come. I embrace that period of slump also. When I was not doing well I was just focussing on my processes. And when I am doing well, I am still focussing on my processes. So those things don’t bother me that much,” Dhawan said.
The opener narrated that it was a similar case from 2013 where he was out of the team before making a comeback for the Champions Trophy in 2013 and like this year’s tournament he played fluently in that edition.
“When I made a comeback in the ODI side in 2013 Champions Trophy, I was batting this fluently. Even in recent Champions Trophy (2017), I was playing in that flow. I would say that I even played like this in my debut Test match against Australia, or like I played in Galle in the first Test here. I am playing quite similarly to those times. I am trying to keep repeating the same mantra for myself,” he said.
The 31-year-old has been in some stellar form on this tour. In the fourt Test innings, he made two centuries and now in one ODI, he has a century. But for Dhawan, run scoring doesn’t seem a problem. He is more bothered about the fitness as there are more players in the team who are attaining supreme fitness.
“I like to keep myself fit at the pace of the game. Apart from that I don’t really too many goals that I have to score these many runs. I just focus on my process including my fitness, skills and fielding,” he said.
Talking about Sunday’s match, Dhawan said he did not think much about the pitch. Dhawan made 132 runs and even added 197 runs the second wicket with Virat Kohli.
“I really didn’t think about the pitch. I was just watching the ball and playing the ball. And I felt that the pitch was very good, the way Sri Lanka started the innings. I thought they will score 300 runs but they lost lot of wickets in the middle and we dominated the game,” said Dhawan.
Sri Lanka haven’t given India any competition so far and even lost the first ODI in just 28.5 overs. They were blanked 3-0 in the Test series. Despite this, Dhawan said that this is young Sri Lanka side and will take time to get better.
“This is a young Sri Lankan side and they are in transition period where all the boys will mature. In international cricket you need to have that experience. The young boys are good but with time they will get better.”
“Malinga has been a legend for Sri Lankan cricket and he has done great in international cricket in all formats. He is a bit old now and with time I feel that his pace has gone down a bit. That’s why we can attack more as batsmen and that’s what we look at. This is natural because he has played so much cricket. It’s just a cycle, life cycle, that’s what I feel,” said the left-handed opener.
“I don’t use those harsh words. I won’t say they are the worst bowling attack I have faced. The left arm bowler (Vishwa Fernando) bowls decent pace. They have a good fast bowling attack. In Champions Trophy, they even beat us.
“It’s just that we have got a mature side, very experienced side so that plays a huge role because how you handle pressure situations that matters a lot with experience. So I feel that with time Sri Lankan team will do well,” he added.