A big comeback statement

Shikhar Dhawan isn’t the most articulate of Indian cricketers. He struggles to put all his thoughts into words and hence they often appear disjointed. But with the bat in his hands, he is the most expressive of Indian batsmen at the moment. He understands the language of batting as good as anyone else in this Indian team. And that’s what matters the most. 

For someone who wasn’t even in the mix of things till a few months ago, he has emerged the most prolific run-getter in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka by a massive distance. With three centuries on this trip (two in Tests and one in the first ODI) he has become the scourge of Lankan attack, setting the tone for India’s dominance at the top of the order.

It’s not just the amount of runs that has hurt the Lankans the most but it’s the manner in which he has collected them. His 358 runs in three Test innings came at a strike rate of 104.67 and it jumped to 146.66 when he brought up the hundred (132 off 90 balls) in the first ODI. Such was the impact of his innings here on Sunday that Virat Kohli, who scored 82 at 117.14, appeared pedestrian.

So has be batted any better than he is doing at this point of his career?  

“Champions Trophy…,” Dhawan recalled. “When I made a (ODI) comeback in 2013 at that time, I was batting in the same manner. Even this Champions Trophy, I was playing in that flow and again I am repeating that thing here. I would say that the way I played in my debut Test, and in the Galle Test (last month), I played quite similarly. I am trying to keep repeating the same mantra to myself,” he remarked.

Dhawan, who first played in ODI in 2010, had made his one-day comeback on the back of his blistering ton in his debut Test in 2013. Just as his blinding 174-ball 187 in that match against Australia had rekindled his ODI career, his slump in form in Tests and T20Is, ironically, impacted his 50-over chances as well when he was out of reckoning for all formats after the home England ODI series.

When Dhawan went out of favour in Tests, he had managed just 306 runs in 13 innings at an average of just over 25 during the period between November 2015 and October 2016. From the start of Australia series in Jan 2016 Down Under to the contests against England in Jan 2017 at home, Dhawan had 299 runs from seven games at an average of 42.71 and a strike rate of more than 96, both acceptable parameters to be in the ODI set-up.

His dwindling stocks in Tests and T20Is, however, appeared to consume his ODI place as well when KL Rahul missed the Champions Trophy and the subsequent West Indies tour for a limited-overs series with a shoulder injury and Dhawan got a look in again. He grabbed the opportunity with scores of 68, 125, 78, 46, 21, 87, 63, 2, 5 and 4.        

Enjoying the form of his life, Dhawan just wants to live in the present. He is neither looking back at his failures nor is he looking too ahead of himself.

“Well I have already had a slump so I don’t think about it,” he said when asked if he fears the law of averages. “When it has to come it will come. I really don’t think about it. I embrace that period also.

When I was not doing well, I was just focussing on my processes. And when I am doing well, I am still focussing on my processes. So those things don’t bother me that much. I feel failure teaches you a lot and I am lucky I have learnt so much out of that,” he philosophised.

With his latest displays, Dhawan has made the opening slot his own again and with the World Cup less than two years away, he is part of the core of the team again.  
         
“It’s a long time away,” said Dhawan of the 2019 World Cup in England. “I would like to keep performing well. That would be my goal because if I don’t perform there are such great batsmen in our side that anyone can take the place,” he reasoned.