Shikhar Dhawan is the only batsman in the team who has become the biggest worry for India ahead of the World Cup. The out-of-form opener is going through the toughest phase of his career. He has been in and out of the Indian Test team for a while and now and questions are being raised about his ODI form.
Sources close to the cricketer told Drcricket7 that Dhawan is low on confidence. But his team is right behind him. If you exclude him, this Indian ODI team is left with only six batsmen. It was reliably learnt that his confidence is so low that he is having difficulty playing his natural game of dominating the opposition’s bowling attack. He is scared of getting dismissed, and this is holding him back from expressing himself freely.
To come out of the woods, Dhawan has been talking to the experts. Also, deep down inside, he knows that this won’t be of much help. After all, if you listen to too many experts of the game, it can leave you confused. He is trying out different things in the nets. However, nothing seems to have worked out yet.
So what is the way out now? If Dhawan is playing with a vertical bat, his point of contact can’t be away from the body. As most spectators must have noticed, the Delhi cricketer is getting caught in the slip cordon. And this is happening repeatedly because he is playing his vertical bat shots away from the body. If a batsman is playing a horizontal bat to shots like square-cut, pull and hook shots, he has to be away from the ball. This is, of course, the basics of batting and Dhawan needs to rectify this first.
It’s not that he has a weakness against deliveries pitched outside the off-stump. He is an excellent cricketer and the fact that he is able to keep some of the former openers like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir out of the Indian team in both formats, goes to show his calibre. From here, the continued support of his team management should bring out the best of Dhawan in the days to come!
