“It’s good to see Shikhar Dhawan emerging an impact player,” says Lalchand Rajput, coach of India-A. He termed the swashbuckling knock of Dhawan as master-class. Dhawan was looking unstoppable when he amassed 248 runs in just 150 balls. This innings brought back the memories of six sixes in Rajput’s mind which Yuvraj Singh smashed in Stuart Broad’s over in the inaugural edition of T20 in 2007.
Rajput was quoted by DNA saying, “I have hardly seen this kind of batting in one dayers.I have never seen something like this. Only greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have crossed the double hundred barrier and now its Dhawan. It is fantastic.”
“He played some fantastic and proper cricketing shots. The South Africans did not have any answer to his assault. Thirty boundaries and seven sixes! He butchered them so badly that they were helpless,” added Rajput.
Though, Dhawan fell short by 20 runs of breaking the record of Alastair Brown but Dhawan was quite convinced that if he would have stayed till the end then he could have reached 300 runs mark.
Throwing some more light in this context, Rajput was quoted by The Times of India saying, “He was obviously tired after a long stay but was happy to have scored 200. Dhawan did not know that the record is 268. He played his own game. He said that he could have scored 300.”
Rajput believes that if Dhawan keeps coming at the bowlers like this, then he could score even 400.
“See any score is possible. Even 400 is not safe now, if you look at the trend. I think with the way Dhawan bats and the talent he has, he has the ability to score 300. I have seen Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes as a coach and some of the best innings from Sehwag. Now I am fortunate to have seen Dhawan’s breath-taking knock. A batting of master class against one of the best attacks,” he added.
Players like Dhawan, Chetashwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma clicking at the right time, Rajput believes that Indian cricket is in safe hands.
He was quoted by Deccan Chronicle saying, “Dhawan has been performing extremely well for the last couple of months whether its Test cricket, Champions Trophy or against Zimbabwe. He has carried the form where ever he has gone. The way our youngsters have performed, it is really great. They are our future players and it is safe hands.”
In the bowling department, Ishwar Pandey also performed well as he claimed four wickets in the match against South-Africa A. Rajput also had a few encouraging words for the young lad from Madhya Pradesh, “He took four wickets and was bowling yorkers consistently which was a great positive for the team.”