ENG vs IND 2018: Shikhar Dhawan Vows To Bounce Back Stronger After Edgbaston Failure

Under-fire India opener Shikhar Dhawan has vowed to come back stronger after his poor performance in the first England vs India Test.

The left-handed batsman was one of India’s worst performers in the first Test at Edgbaston. He let the team down not only with the bat but also fielding.

Dhawan was not a certainty to open with Murali Vijay after bagging a pair in the warm-up match against a second-string Essex side. The southpaw had faced just four deliveries in the warm-up game. That performance further tarnished his image as a Test batsman in overseas conditions.

However, the team gambled on him and it backfired.  In both innings, Dhawan reached out with hard hands at a ball that was moving away outside off stump and was caught in the slips. In the first innings, he got the start and was batting on 26 before poking at an away going delivery from Sam Curran. He struggled in the second innings too as he edged a Stuart Broad delivery to the wicketkeeper after scoring 13.

What made matters worse for him was his fielding.

He dropped Sam Curran and Adil Rashid in the second innings which helped England recover from 87 for 7 and post a decent 180. India eventually lost the game by 31 runs. Just like Dhawan, the other batsmen except Virat Kohli also failed.

While Kohli scored 149 and 51, the other batsmen just could not provide him the support. As a result, the visitors ended up making heavy weather of an 194-run chase.

Dhawan, however, is not bogged down by the failure and is looking to bounce back strongly. The Delhi star took to Twitter to wish his followers on Friendship day and insisted he would return stronger in the second game.

“Wish you all a very #HappyFriendshipDay. ‬ ‪I know you’re all very sad & disappointed with our narrow loss yesterday. I’ve looked into my own performance, the mistakes I made and I‘ll come back stronger and wiser in the next game. Thank u for all the love & support. ??

Wish you all a very #HappyFriendshipDay.
I know you're all very sad & disappointed with our narrow loss yesterday. I've looked into my own performance, the mistakes I made and I‘ll come back stronger and wiser in the next game. Thank u for all the love & support. ?? pic.twitter.com/oce5x8XNTH

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) August 5, 2018