Shikhar Dhawan Credits Experience of IPL in Picking Rashid Khan Better

It was a historic day for the Afghanistan side as they made their Test debut against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru yesterday. It was an eventful day of play. While the first two sessions were completely dominated by the home side, Afghanistan showed what they are capable of in the final session. Meanwhile, the home team’s quest for picking the two best openers for the Test series against England goes on.

They found no real answers as all the three potential openers were successful in the 1^st innings. Southpaw Shikhar Dhawan was at his imperious best when he became the first Indian batsman to score a century before Lunch on Day 1 of a Test match. He was definitely the star performer of the day and scored 107 off just 96 deliveries.

Dhawan was under no pressure what so ever. He played the No 1 spinner in the shortest format, Rashid Khan with disdain. The hard-hitting left-handed batsman smashed fours and a six to Rashid Khan and looked in no discomfort what so ever. He credited the experience of IPL for coming out on top against a top-class bowler.

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“The good thing is that I had faced him [Rashid Khan] in nets for two years because we play for the same team in IPL. So, I was used to his bowling and that helped me,” Dhawan was quoted as saying at the end of the opening day’s play. Rashid was toothless in the first two sessions. However, he came back strongly in the final session and bagged his maiden Test wicket in the form of Ajinkya Rahane. However, Dhawan did not feel that the other batsmen could have changed their approach.

“See each one will have a different game,” he said. “A team is formed of different characters – I am a different character, my game is different to what Vijay’s is. Each player has his own qualities. Some people like to step out and play and some others don’t prefer that. Each individual has his own game and plays accordingly. My strength is to step out and play and I play accordingly.”’

Afghanistan came back strongly in the final session bagging 5 wickets for just 99 runs. Dhawan acknowledged the fight back from Afghanistan in the final session. “Yeah, they came back very well in the last session. They are playing their first game, I am sure they are going to learn a lot of things. They are going to go a long way,” he said.

“Of course, Rashid is a top-class bowler and I enjoyed my battles with him. Since I dominated [this one] I enjoyed it but as I said, he is a great bowler,” he concluded.

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