India's batting great Sunil Gavaskar lauded opener Shikhar Dhawan for not letting the talk about his age and form affect him. Dhawan missed out his hundred in the first ODI against England and scored 98 runs.

Gavaskar was happy to see Dhawan succeed with the bat and win the Man of the Match. It could have been his 18th ODI hundred but he was dismissed by Ben Stokes.

"Yes, there has been so much talk about his age. He is 35 and he will turn 36 in December. 'Should he be there for the next World Cup look at 2023?' All that talks would have been around. To forget all that and focus on what he can do best was good to see," Gavaskar told Star Sports on Tuesday.

"Also, to have Rohit Sharma with whom he had terrific partnerships around would have been of great help," he added.

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Dhawan had a slow start to his innings but once he spent time in the middle, the opener started connecting the ball better. His opening partner Rohit Sharma was dismissed after scoring 28 runs and he posted a 105-run stand with captain Virat Kohli. 

"This time around Rohit was not as fluent as he normally is. Shikhar took the initiative to keep the scoreboard moving. Once he middled a few shots, his confidence returned. His confidence was sky-high after that and then he started playing shots that we know he is capable of.

"That lofted six over extra-cover of Moeen Ali was a terrific shot," he added.

"Good to see somebody who works hard, somebody who the captain said is a fine team man, succeed."

India sealed the first ODI match by 66 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series. They bowled out England on 251 in reply to their 317/5 in 50 overs.