When he made his ODI debut in 2010, Shikhar Dhawan didn’t know what it takes to play at international level. He scored a two-ball duck. Around eight months later, another chance came his way. He scored 51 and followed it up with a couple of single-digit scores. He was dropped from the team and was written off by many but he was sure of his talent and skills.
As they say, failure helps you identify flaws in yourself, Shikhar too learnt of his flaws and corrected them. He returned to the national team, this time in whites, and made an immediate impact scoring 187 on his Test debut. Since then Shikhar has taken a great leap. From a talented first-class batsman, he has become an international sensation.
“It is more in the mind, my skills are the same. I have matured as a batsman and I value my wicket more. I am hungrier. I am smiling more. I have started changing things in the nets. My concentration is better. I have been working hard,” he said on Friday ahead of third ODI against Australia here at the PCA stadium, the same ground where the whole world took note of the new version of Shikhar Dhawan.
“I have great memories of Mohali — this is where I made my Test debut and got a century. I definitely want to repeat the same tomorrow,” he added.
The sheer weight of runs — he has scored four international centuries since his comeback in March — has made him so confident that no target seems big to him. He set up India’s record 360-run chase in Jaipur on Wednesday with 86-ball 95. “It’s about playing the right shots and taking calculated risks. From the time I walked out of the dressing room (in Jaipur), I thought it was a chaseable target and we feel that way each time,” the Delhi opener said.
“We are always positive and our captain (MS Dhoni) asked us to play ball by ball. The target was quite big but he yold us not to worry about the target and just enjoy ourselves. That’s what we did and by the grace of God, it went our way.
“Anyway, 300-320 is a normal target these days; it used to be a big score earlier on. 360 was still a big target but we were mentally strong enough to do it. Our attitude and thinking is great,” he added.