IND vs SL 2017: Shikhar Dhawan Loves Coming Back to Vizag

Shikhar Dhawan has been on a fantastic run of-late starting from the Champion’s trophy and is in no mood to stop. Dhawan has scored 159 runs in his last five one day innings, and more importantly, he returned to his lethal form in the last match against Sri Lanka in Mohali where he scored a 67 ball 68 which laid the platform for the Indian batting line up.

The series is currently level at 1-1 with the final match to be played in Vizag on Sunday. The venue has some fond memories of the left-handed opening batsman, who made his international fifty debuts at the same venue in 2010. However, Dhawan scored a two-ball duck in the match, and now seven years later, he returns to the ground as India’s first choice opener. The venue has also been a happy hunting ground for the Delhi lad as he scored a century in Deodhar Trophy a few days before the IPL in Vizag.

This knock eventually got him back in the national side after being dropped earlier and KL Rahul was picked ahead of him. A day before the final ODI, Dhawan recalls the knock and his love for the city. He said:

 “I’ve always loved coming back to Vizag. A very beautiful city, very clean city and of course the property in which we are living, it has the sea in front of us, it’s beautiful. And, of course, I did well in the Deodhar trophy as you said and after that there was a drastic change in my career. As they say, Vizag is a city of destiny isn’t it? It has been good for me and I always enjoy coming here. 

“I’ve been performing consistently in the past few months, I’m very happy about it the way I’ve been performing. Of course, as a player, you can keep on growing, you never stop learning. I keep learning new things in my game and try to implement it in the nets and in the match.”  

Dhawan also hailed Rohit Sharma’s double ton in the second ODI and also said that Rohit as a captain likes to keep things simple:

 “He has only been captain for two matches but I’ve known Rohit from a long time and I know what’s his character like. He is a very chilled out captain and he tells us to keep the basics right, we all know our roles, we are a matured side now, we just have to give our best and hats off to him for the way he performed in the last game and he led from the front. Very happy about it.”  

Talking about his form and what the Indian side expects from the down and out Sri Lankan side he said:

 “When you attack the opposition, the kind of players we are, the kind of calibre we have, once I’m in, I can demolish any side. Even Rohit, once he settles he can score big runs. The opposition can have plans, when they lose, they will learn out of it and will come out with a better mindset, we know about it, we will be aware of it because we know they will come out with strong plans for us.”