Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan on Tuesday (March 23) made a strong return to the Indian team with a sparkling half-century in the ODI series opener against England at the MCA Stadium, Pune.
WATCH – Krunal Pandya breaks down in tears after slamming fastest fifty on ODI debut
Dhawan, who was dropped from the playing XI after the first T20I versus England, hit 98 runs off 106 balls to lay the foundation of India’s mammoth 317/5 in 50 overs.
"I kept myself quite positive when I was not playing the T20Is. I was focusing on the process and my fitness, skill work, and mental space-wise, I always keep myself positive. I always try to find good things from a situation and I was working on my batting, I knew if I get an opportunity I will take it," quoted Dhawan during a virtual press conference after India’s thumping 66-run victory.
Talking about his and Rohit Sharma’s plan at the start of the innings, the southpaw said: "It totally depends on the wicket. Today, it was seaming and swinging, so it would not have made any sense if we went hard from the start. So, our plan was to stay at the wicket and respect good deliveries. We knew that we can always catch up. If the wicket would have been more supportive towards batsmen, we would have gone hard."
"In international cricket, pressure is always there. As an experienced player, I know how to handle pressure. I know what shots to play, we read the wicket nicely and we communicate that, that's what we did. We are playing for so many years, there is a mental switch and batters know what to do. Rohit and I knew what was our plan. We knew the ball was swinging, when we scored 30-35 runs after the first ten overs, we did not feel any pressure. With experience, you know how to handle things," he added.
Playing his first 50-over game for India, all-rounder Krunal Pandya left everyone in awe with his fearless batting display. He smashed 58 not out off 31 balls (7 fours and 2 sixes) to propel India to a strong finish.
Talking about the fearlessness of young players, Dhawan said: "It feels nice to see how confident the youngsters are in our side. They play domestic cricket and IPL, they share the dressing rooms with the big stars in the IPL. It helps them get the confidence of performing in international cricket. The IPL exposure helps and our domestic cricket is quite strong as well.”
KL Rahul, who endured a poor T20I series against England, also returned to form with a dazzling knock of 62* in 43 deliveries.
Commenting on Rahul, Dhawan said: "It was great to see Rahul scoring a half-century, we all love watching him play, he is a class player. Three-four bad innings can happen to any player. It is part of the journey, a strong player always stays strong. Krunal and he took us to 300, it was great to watch. We will see him playing more fluently and scoring more runs."
With the ball, the hosts bundled out England for 251 in 42.1 overs on the back of stellar performances from Prasidh Krishna (4-54), Shardul Thakur (3-37) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-30).
"It was a great team effort. Especially Prasidh, he was bowling with pace and he was rushing the batters. It was great to see, in his first match, everyone feels the pressure. Even Krunal Pandya did well as a debutant. Shardul's confidence has gone quite up, he is a very smart cricketer and he reads the game quite well. He provided us the breakthrough we required, I feel he is in a great zone and he is enjoying his cricket," Dhawan concluded.
(With ANI inputs)
