The veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan is back home after a successful overseas tour to Australia and New Zeland. While the T20I series against the Kiwi’s was not a fruitful one, Dhawan is looking forward to the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he playing for the Delhi Capitals (DC). Dhawan is a part of the Delhi based franchise after being traded from Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Reflecting on the move Dhawan spoke to TOI and said, “Ghar wapasi ho gayi hai ji meri, (It is a homecoming for me)” This is where I grew up. So, it’s good to come back. On the cricket front, it’s good that I will be playing half my games at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground and I have played there for so many years that I know the ground and the pitches there. I’m adjusting well to it actually. I’m bringing 11 years of experience. I was a rookie back then and learned lots of stuff from all the senior players- AB de Villiers, Viru bhai, Gauti bhai, (Glenn) McGrath, Daniel Vettori. I remember all of them.”

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According to Dhawan IPL is the best thing that has happened to Indian cricket as it has been the best platform for the youngsters to brush shoulders with the legends of the game.

Shikhar explained, “The first year I played for Delhi franchise, I shared the dressing room with them and it was a really big deal for me. Just spending time with them was great and that increased my confidence level. When I joined Mumbai Indians, I got the chance to open with Sachin paaji (Tendulkar). Even with Deccan Chargers, I played with (Kumar) Sangakkara and when I scored more runs than him, step by step it gave me confidence.”

Dhawan feels that IPL gives the confidence to the youngsters because of the big exposure they get and it helps a lot. He added that now the youngsters bring that experience in the Indian team like Kuldeep (Yadav) has done as well as (Yuzvendra) Chahal.