ENG vs IND 2018: Under-Pressure Shikhar Dhawan Takes A Dig At His Critics

Shikhar Dhawan completely failed to prove his credentials in overseas Tests in the ongoing England vs India Test series. There were questions over his ability to deal with the red-ball in testing conditions and Dhawan has not quite managed to prove his detractors wrong.

Dhawan had lost his place in the playing eleven after flopping in South Africa earlier this year. However, a quickfire century against Afghanistan at home helped him earn a recall in the playing eleven.

But Dhawan was not a certainty to open in the first innings 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 looked quite lost against swinging deliveries and ended up poking at the deliveries that was moving away outside off stump. 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.

Consequently, he lost his place in the team for the Lord’s Test. But he made a comeback in the team after Murali Vijay flopped. In his comeback game, he had a few good starts but couldn’t capitalise on them. Then innings of 23 and 17 in the fourth game has further piled pressure on him.

Not surprisingly, he is facing the heat at the moment. But despite that, Dhawan looks upbeat as he posted a cryptic message on Twitter, taking a dig at his critics. He took to Instagram to post a picture of himself training along with his teammates, writing:

“Log chaiyeh jitna bhi bol le mehnat karne se kabhie nahi rok saktey (No matter how much people speak, they can never stop me from working hard).”