India's senior cricketer Shikhar Dhawan is ready to lead the team on the Sri Lanka tour, where they will play couple of white-ball series. The key players from India's initial squad are currently on England tour for the five-match Test series.
Dhawan talked about his idea of leadership before the ODI series which kicks off on July 18. He has young talents in his squad and the team is coached by ex-cricketer Rahul Dravid, while Ravi Shastri is with India's Test team in the United Kingdom.
The 35-year-old said he tries to keep the team together and happy as a captain, which according to him is the most important thing for a team. Expressing his delight on getting the captaincy role, he said, “It is a big achievement for me that I have become the captain of the Indian side."
"As a leader, my idea is to keep everyone together and happy, that is the most important thing. We have got a lovely bunch of boys, great support staff, and we have worked earlier as well," he added on the Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’.
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Dhawan opened up on his bond with Dravid and said they share a good relation and they know each other for a long time. “I have a good relation with Rahul Bhai. When I started playing Ranji Trophy, I played against him, and I have known him since then. When I went to play India A match, I was the captain, and he was the coach, so there was interaction.
“When he became the director of NCA, we used to go there for around 20 days, so we had a lot of interaction, and now we have good chemistry. And now that we have the chance to play six matches together, so it will be great fun, and I think we all sync nicely,” he said.
Dhawan had some advice for the youngsters who got picked in the Indian squad for the first time. He said the new talents should enjoy the journey to Team India after going through the struggle to reach where they are right now.
“Happy to get the youngsters in the team and see their dreams come true. It’s a big thing that these youngsters have come from their respective home towns with certain dreams, and their dreams are getting fulfilled.
“And now, they should enjoy the journey which landed them in team India, and they should know the value of their strength and how to improve it,” he said.
Indian cricket team has the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal and Chetan Sakariya in the squad. Apart from the young guns, Dhawan said the team also has senior cricketers to help the newcomers.
“There are seniors in the team, so the youngsters will learn from them, and we will get to learn from the youngsters. Whenever I meet the youngsters they often have new ways of thinking, and I try to learn things which will help us,” he said.
(With Star Sports Inputs)
