After being criticised for his 43-ball 41 in the first T20I against Bangladesh, Shikhar Dhawan came back with stronger performances in Rajkot (31) and Nagpur (19), not exactly in terms of scores but a lot in terms of intent.
“It’s all about destiny I guess. I never prepare differently for an ICC tournament but it just so happens that I score big,” Dhawan tells Hindustan Times in the launch of StanceBeam Striker that provides personalized and real-time performance data for cricketers. The inevitability of the topic shifting towards T20Is evident in his expressions. But he is prepared, not with sharpest of answers but with an honesty that can only come naturally.
“See I have certain roles in the T20I side. Have been practicing hard in trying to perform that. Hopefully by the time T20 world cup comes, everything falls into place,” he says. “I don’t think there are issues in T20Is. If you observe, I have been scoring well in the last few matches against South Africa and Bangladesh. Yes, I was a bit slow in the Delhi T20I. But that’s because I tried to bat differently because of the pitch. I know, 50 off 43 balls would have been a lot better than the 40 odd I got but yeah, I learnt.”
“Yes we had a plan to go hard in the first six overs. We knew if we could get 50-60 runs in the first six that will make the job easy for the middle order.”
