England vs India: After bagging a pair vs Essex, Shikhar Dhawan shows he hasn’t lost the humour

There are talks already over his Test temperament and after the snubbing of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan could also be feeling the pressure in Tests. ‘Gabbar’, as he is fondly known, had a disastrous outing in the three-day warm-up game against Essex at Chelmsford before the five-match Test series beginning August 1, getting out twice in four balls without scoring a single run.

But the 32-year-old Dhawan was still calm and relaxed was seen when he posted a photo of his on Twitter with skipper Virat Kohli and Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara flanking on him either side. The photo was accompanied by a humorous one-liner: “Kaise na ho gujara.. jab saath ho Kohli aur Pujara!”

Kaise na ho gujara.. jab saath ho Kohli aur Pujara! pic.twitter.com/7SXrm8kShf

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) July 27, 2018

Dhawan, who started his Test career with a smashing 187 against Australia in 2013, has not been able to keep up the momentum over the next five years. He also scored a ton in the last Test that India played against Afghanistan but yet, experts have preferred KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, both of whom batted well in the Essex game, to open India’s innings in the Test matches.

Dhawan also squandered a golden opportunity by failing to score in the warm-up match, the only practice game India were scheduled to play in the high-profile England series, and could struggle to retain a place in the playing XI unless the management decides to play either Vijay or Rahul in the middle orders. Dhawan, who opened with Vijay in the first innings against Essex, was dismissed off the opening bowler Matt Coles in the very first delivery that he faced. In the second essay, he came out with Rahul but survived two balls before getting bowled by the other opening bowler Matthew Quinn.

But Dhawan, who is a more effective player in the limited formats, showed that he is enjoying the company of his teammates and it gives a positive image about the team spirit in the visitors’ dressing room. Dhawan has scored 2,153 runs in 30 Tests at an average of 43.93 with seven hundreds and five fifties with the highest being 190 scored against Sri Lanka in 2017.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Dhawan’s cheeky tweet

Kese bnogy hero jab run bnaogy zero😆😆😆😆😆

— Dheeraj Joshi (@Dheeraj09842066) July 27, 2018

Kab tak loge Unka sahara
Thora score khud bhi krle yaara

— Karan (@kannuJK) July 27, 2018

bhai fir duck pe chala gya

— Satya Choudhary (@satyagodara) July 27, 2018

kaise na ho Gujara……Jab sath ho Kohli or Pujara
Aap bhi dikhado Champions Trophy (2013) ka Jalwa Dobara…..

Kaisi rhi Sir???? ek reply to banta hai ispe….

— Dhaval Dave (@Dhaval_1911985) July 27, 2018

Kab tak krenge kohli aur pujara aapka gujara
Khucch aap bhi kro yaara

— Sahil choudhary (@Sahilch95772698) July 28, 2018

pic.twitter.com/LZooMrUJdQ

— माथापच्ची 🇮🇳 (@tweets_24x7) July 27, 2018

Run Banao Is Baar Sabse Jyada,,, Nahi toh Team me na Dikhna Aapne Dubara 😂

— BALJEET SINGH (@baljeet96) July 27, 2018

Aapne tod Diya h bharosa hmara… isliye ab Rahul ko khilao Yara

— Radha Raman Upadhyay (@rru1896) July 27, 2018