Judicious shot selection and an ability to forget the previous ball were prominent features of Shikhar Dhawan’s innings of studied breeziness
Sharda Ugra in Galle13-Aug-2015Galle will feel like a generous kind of town for Shikhar Dhawan. His first Test in Sri Lanka and he found himself at the receiving end of some strokes of fortune. Dhawan has not only cashed in, but maximized. His fourth Test hundred, during the course of which he reached 1000 Test runs, and double-century partnership with his captain formed the core strength of India’s grip on the Galle Test.A clatter of wickets fell in the second session, either side of the second new ball, before Wriddhiman Saha’s rousing 60 took India’s lead into that category that makes Test match teams sleep well enough.At stumps on day two, Dhawan and his innings of studied breeziness had given India much to be grateful for. That he went through his 134 – all four-and-a-half hours of it – with a bruised right hand due to catch dropped in the slips on day one will no doubt call for an extra helping of praise.During an innings, Dhawan can wander about as if he were trying to still an anxious alter ego. He walks away from the crease and his partner for a few seconds, rolls his shoulders, tries to uncrick his neck, bobs his head from side, and squints up at the sun. Maybe Dhawan, a devotee of traditional Sufi music, is even singing. Batsmen’s individual quirks vary, and with Dhawan, it appears from a distance that whatever has just passed him by is being kept to one side.Be it a catch dropped either by him or off his bat, a ferocious appeal, or in one case this afternoon a clunk on the back of his helmet by Nuwan Pradeep. At times, even the moment when he has crossed a hundred. Dhawan has an appetite for large scores; his 134 on Thursday made him the third Indian opener after Sunil Gavaskar (West Indies, 1971) and Rahul Dravid (Pakistan, 2006) to make back-to-back away Test hundreds.Dhawan has scored his across nations: in Fatullah, where he would not have played had KL Rahul not been struck down with dengue fever, and now here in Galle, when his batting showed a measured side, through tempo and shot selection.In the run-up to this series, there was a worry that India’s young batsmen – none of the top five had played a Test in Sri Lanka – were not quite equipped to handle quality spin bowling, particularly in the opposition’s own home, that the absence of top-flight spinners across Indian cricket and the lure of T20 meant the new generation of Indian batsmen did not possess either the defensive game nor the rigour and the restraint required to quell it.Dhawan and Kohli’s double-century partnership against a Rangana Herath far from his prime and a developing but inconsistent four-Test-old Tharindu Kaushal didn’t put the worry to rest entirely. But it did show that a solution is being sought, and it has put India in position to win the Test inside three days.Dhawan said later that the batsmen had worked with batting coach Sanjay Bangar on their options against the Lankan spinners. It had involved practicing the sweep shot and stepping out on turning tracks, not necessarily to charge the bowlers and plant him into the stand over long-on, but to throw bowlers off their lengths and turn the strike over. They tried it in the practice game in Colombo, where Dhawan scored 62, and put it to a tougher examination in Galle. “That’s what we did as a unit with Sanjay . That’s what wickets like these demand.”There was due deference shown to Rangana Herath, Dhawan stepping out to push the ball for a single and get Kohli to take charge. Tharindu Kaushal asked questions of Dhawan, not once but three times: Dhawan was dropped twice, on 28 by Angelo Mathews at slip and on 122 by Lahiru Thirimane on 122, a sharp chance at short cover. There was a raucous lbw appeal in the first session when Dhawan was on 79, Kaushal looping one towards leg and getting the ball to hold its line. Umpire Bruce Oxenford turned down the appeal, with every chance that the DRS, had it existed, would have challenged his decision.Dhawan stayed above the noise; “I felt very happy,” he laughed, when asked about the three chances in his innings. He said when sudden starts of that type appear, “you do get more alert again and you want to start afresh and I was able to do that.” His partnership with Kohli, tempered by caution in the morning, picked up its pace and stretched the lead. Dhawan scored most of his runs off the quicker bowlers, (scoring only off 48 of the 161 balls he faced from the spinners) and used the sweep judiciously against Kaushal. It was ironical that he eventually played-on to Nuwan Pradeep, against whom he was particularly severe, hitting six of his 13 boundaries off him. The century came with a sweet extra-cover drive off Dhammika Prasad past a clutch of frozen fielders. When he was asked how difficult it had been to grip the bat due to the injury on his hand, Dhawan said it had caused some pain. “It affected my batting a bit as I wasn’t playing those many shots.” Then he paused and said, “if I wouldn’t have any pain my score would have been more.”That injury comes with its own story. Dhawan had found himself front and centre early on day one, dropping Kushal Silva at first slip in the fourth over of the match. It looked like a regulation catch and hurt him on the hand. Three overs later, Dhawan sprinted and dived full-length as a mistimed Silva hook (which replays showed came off the arm guard) looped into the air. Dhawan completed the catch, was surrounded by a flock of excited teammates, and India had made serious inroads into the match inside its first 45 minutes. Only later did Dhawan realise he had bruised his arm and needed treatment and moved out of the slips.Catches come and go but when the fates fall his way, Shikhar Dhawan knows how to say thank you.4:26
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