'I've matured as a batsman'

 Shikhar Dhawan had been in an enviable form and attributes his recent glut of runs to the maturity as a batsman in the past one year.

The Delhi left-hander sloughed off years of inconsistency by stroking his way to the fastest Test century during his Test debut against Australia in Mohali last year and never looked back.

He again clattered records with his sensational 248 off 150 balls against South Africa A last month and became the second highest individual List A scorer behind former Surrey batsman Alistair Brown.

The 27-year-old called his rich run of form as a reward of his consistency. "I have been technically sound earlier also but in the last one year I have matured as a batsman. I have become mentally stronger and worked on my shot selection," said Dhawan at a promotional event on Tuesday.

“I realised I had the ability to play at the top level and started working harder. I got hungry for runs. I had always dreamt of scoring 200 runs but reaching 248 was a big thing for me. I am really thankful to God for this.”

Dhawan said the team was confident of doing well on South Africa tour. He, however, didn’t  have much to say about Board of Control for Cricket in India’s plan to shorten the tour.

"That's BCCI’s call. At the end of the day, my job is to play cricket," Dhawan said. "We are getting ready for the tour and we are high on confidence. We are a young and a strong side. The fact that we have been doing well on foreign soil makes us positive,” he said.

Dhawan had played under the captaincy of both Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli and felt it was not fair to compare their leadership qualities. "Dhoni has won so many tournaments for the country. He is one of the best captains in the world. Kohli is young and he has done well in limited chances. There is no comparison between the two," he said.