It was a shocking batting display from the Indian batsman on the second day of the second Test at Lord's. After rain washed out the first day's play and interrupted the game several times on the second day, the game finally resumed on the final session.
It took the England bowlers led by James Anderson who took a fifer to dismiss India for a paltry 107. Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Virat Kohli (23) managed to score in their 20s as the other Indian batsmen looked clueless in front of the England bowling line up. Cheteshwar Pujara who was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed via run out after getting into a mix up with his captain.
The axing of Shikhar Dhawan from the second Test has left VVS Laxman surprised. Laxman who has seen Dhawan from close quarters at Sunrisers Hyderabad has said that apart from Virat Kohli every other batsman has looked vulnerable against the moving ball and it was not right to drop Dhawan who is an attacking batsman by nature.
“Every batsman failed barring Virat Kohli and if you compare KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay amongst the three, Dhawan looked the most confident, his footwork was precise. But probably he gets the axe because of the way he gets out. As a stroke player, you expect sometimes while playing shots you get out in a certain fashion,” Laxman trying to understand why Dhawan was dropped while talking on ESPNcricinfo.
Laxman further said that Dhawan is the kind of player who is similar to Virender Sehwag. Both are impactful players and its the difference they create by their stay at the wicket despite their dismissals looking ugly.
“(Virender) Sehwag was that kind, whenever he got out it looked bad but that is also their strength that’s why I am really surprised. Why the axe has to fall on Shikhar Dhawan and not the other batsmen. The numbers say that it is not only him who has been struggled since 2015 in overseas conditions. It’s all the top three or four (including Pujara),” Laxman further mentioned.
As it turned out in the second Test, the opening pair of Vijay and Rahul did not look comfortable at all. While Vijay survived just 5 balls, Rahul played 14.
