I was batting well in England but wasn't getting runs: Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan had a rough campaign on English soil, especially in the five-match Test series. He played the first match at Edgbaston but was dropped for the second match at Lord’s owing to his poor performances. Nevertheless, he played the last three Tests at Trent Bridge, The Ageas Bowl, and Kennington Oval respectively, but unfortunately,  couldn’t make an impact.

Subsequently, he was a recipient of severe criticism, both form the supporters as well as the cricketing fraternity. Yesterday, he scored a superlative ton against Hong Kong, which helped the Men in Blue beat Hong Kong in a closely fought contest at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the Asia Cup.

The Delhi-born cricketer believes that his string of low scores shouldn’t be translated into his poor run of form. Moreover, he expressed his satisfaction after playing the match-winning knock and also mentioned that failures shouldn’t overshadow the importance of victories. He highlighted the same by citing Ambati Rayudu’s gutsy half-century in the previous match.

We didn’t expect for them to score 170-run partnership

“It wasn’t a question of form, I was batting well but wasn’t getting runs. Great to get runs also. We have won so many series in the last four years and we have also lost some. We are humans. The concern should not be such that everything else, all the good results are forgotten.

Some failures should not overshadow all the wins. Just look at (Ambati) Rayudu, he was so good, and he was playing after such a long time. So, it’s good,” Dhawan was quoted as saying in Times Now.

After India put on 285 runs for the loss of seven wickets, the likes of Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan put on 174 runs for the first wicket and kept India at bay. The pacers, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur strained to find their feet. In the meantime, Dhawan also backed them and admitted that India didn’t expect Rath and Nizakat to build such a stand.

“We didn’t expect for them to score 170-run partnership but they played well. We could have been more consistent in our bowling but we have to give credit to their batsmen, the openers played well. They were calculative, have to appreciate that.

There wasn’t much swing or seam in the wicket and our bowlers were coming after a break. It takes time to get into the rhythm as well. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) was coming back after a break and Shardul (Thakur) hadn’t played much in England,” he added.

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