Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar reckoned the veteran Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan enjoys playing ODI cricket, and it’s good that the national selectors have shown faith in the southpaw batter. On Tuesday, July 12, the Men in Blue registered a dominating 10-wicket win over England at The Oval and Dhawan stayed not out on 31 in an unbeaten 114-run partnership with Rohit Sharma.
Dhawan, during a chat with Sports18, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Shikhar Dhawan, who’s got only one format now that he can cling on but interestingly, right through his career, from start to end, if you look at his performance in 50 overs cricket, it’s always been the best. This is a format that suits him best and a format where he’s been excellent.”
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He further added, “And I’m so glad that the selectors have shown faith in him and reminded themselves that Shikhar Dhawan is still a force in 50 overs cricket. So brilliant to see them at the top.”
Sanjay Manjrekar opined that Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s presence will help Dhawan even more. Moreover, the veteran lauded Dhawan for showing a tremendous amount of fitness even into his late 30s. Manjrekar also asserted that Dhawan has upped his game, keeping in mind his performances in domestic T20 leagues, especially the Indian Premier League (IPL).
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Sanjay Manjrekar explained, “I’m glad that Dhawan got this innings together and I hope he keeps on getting these kinds of innings together because Rohit Sharma will be around. And if you look at Dhawan’s fitness, he doesn’t look his age on the field and it’s something that he cares a lot about making sure that he’s fit and fine and just pure batting. I think his batting has gone up like this, the graph has gone up with the age as well.”
In 150 ODIs, Shikhar Dhawan has amassed 6315 runs at an average of 45.96 with the help of 17 centuries and 35 half-centuries to show for his efforts. He made his debut in the format way back in 2010 and is still a force to reckon with.
