Anybody missing Virender SehwagIJ Delhi lad Shikhar Dhawan, with his volatile 185 runs in 168 balls with 23 fours, two sixes and a five, made sure that all eyes were on arrival, and not on departure. Australian coach Mickey Arthur must be wondering why Dhawan took his homework whip so seriously despite being in the other dressing room.
As debuts go, this was the fastest inaugural hundred in the world, leaving behind West Indies’ Dwayne Smith’s 93-ball century against South Africa in 2003-04. Shikhar did it in only 85 balls, with a speed that would excite even Sebastian Vettel and mortar that is sure to make him the brand ambassador of a major cement company.
Sehwag is famous for debilitating opposition bowlers with his onslaughts but after watching Dhawan destroying the Australian bowling line-up on the third day of the third Test in Mohali on Saturday, there was no doubt that the opening position may have been filled for now.
The 27-year-old Delhi opener played an entertaining yet well-thought innings to become fodder for ecstatic analyses and in the process, the 13th Indian and 97th overall batsman to have scored a scintillating century on debut.
like his senior Statemate, Dhawan too dealt in boundaries but the difference was quite stark - there were no lofted shots, no chances, no cracks in the bat. Yet, the scoreboard wasn't just ticking, it was galloping. The southpaw's 84 of 104 runs came busting the boundary. He reached his century even before his more experienced partner Murali Vijay, who got a hundred in the last match, could reach his 50. Indeed, the young gun, was in a hurry.
Understandable. After all, he waited for nine long years for this opportunity. Dhawan first rose to prominence during the 2003-04 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, where he scored a record 505 runs at an average of 84.16 and hit three centuries - most by any player in a single World Cup - and was chosen Man-of-the-Tournament.
But after that, he couldn't match his talent with consistency in the domestic circuit. Though he played several good knocks during the period between the 2011 World Cup and his Test debut, they were scattered performances.
Dhawan made his One-day international debut in 2010 against the same opposition at Visakhapatnam but could only manage a duck. He got another chance when India toured West Indies next year without the services of Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. He started well with a half-century, yet again failing to follow it up with a good score.
But at Mohali, in his second coming, he stood up as a mature batsman. It seems, with his match-winning century in the second innings against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy this season, Dhawan gained a lot of understanding of the game.
“Before the start of the Ranji season this year, I noticed that he was calmer than ever. There was a maturity in not only his behaviour, but also in his batting. No doubt he would play his shots, but the percentage of reckless shots had really gone down. He had realised that age was fast catching up with him and given the talent on offer in Indian cricket, he needed to break into the side as soon as possible,” Madan Sharma, Dhawan's coach, told The Pioneer.
“On a lighter note, I think marriage and fatherhood has matured him. But whatever the reason, this makes him double dangerous as we saw when he tore into the Australian attack. I think he has realised when he can play all the shots in the book, he doesn't need to do anything irresponsible and throw his wicket away,” the coach added.
Dhawan, who now carries handlebar moustache in the name of maturity, didn't make any mistake in seizing the opportunity. He was ruthless, dominant, audacious and variety-oriented. Yes, it was a good batting surface but certainly not as easy as he made it look. He pierced the field with full blooded drives, pounced on the short ones and improvised when a bowler intended bamboozling him (remember the reverse sweep off Xavier DohertyIJ).
“I didn't plan this kind of attack. I was middling the ball well and runs were coming. I was focusing on playing the ball on its merit,” Dhawan told reporters later. “I still remember when I made my debut against the same opposition. I got out at zero. I am happy, I managed to grab this opportunity. I am very satisfied,” the performer of the series added.