Shikhar Dhawan's fantastic form since breaking into the Indian team in March continued in Pretoria on Monday, with the 248 against South Africa 'A' making him the second-highest scorer in List A cricket and adding another significant feather in the Delhi batsman's cap, says a report in The Times Of India.
According to people close to him, the 27-year-old opener owes his confidence to a new-found sense of belonging in Team India. The national selectors have made it obvious they are willing to give him an extended run at this level. These are factors that have helped Dhawan stay relaxed and be more composed at the crease, according to long-time coach Madan Sharma.
"Now, he doesn't have to worry about being dropped after a couple of bad games. He knows he is the first-choice opener and he will get 20-25 games," Sharma told TOI. After returning from the Champions Trophy, Dhawan told Sharma how he had formed a small club with Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma to help each other better their game.
27-year-old Dhawan, who clobbered 30 boundaries and seven sixes in his superlative knock, became the second highest individual scorer in the history of List A games (limited overs matches) behind former England and Surrey batsman Alistair Brown. Brown had scored 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan at Oval back on July 19, 2002.
If Dhawan's first 100 came off only 86 balls, the second hundred came off only 46 balls as he raced to his first List A double hundred in only 132 balls with a push off left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks' bowling at the LC de Villiers Oval.
According to a report in the Indian Express, while conditions may have been in his favour, Dhawan was up against a bowling attack of some repute. Rusty Theron and Roelof van der Merwe have both played one-day cricket for the Proteas, while left-armer Beuran Hendricks was the find of the 2012/13 domestic season, when he claimed 35 wickets in seven first-class matches as the Cape Cobras clinched the four-day title.
Hardus Viljoen came up opening the bowling with Marchant de Lange at Easterns and matches De Lange for power and pace, while offspinner Dane Piedt has emerged as one of South Africa's better prospects for the future.
“Yet such was the fury of Dhawan's batting that none of them had an answer to the 27-year-old from Delhi as he hammered seven sixes and 30 fours. One of those sixes saw him club the mighty Viljoen over the construction site where Cricket South Africa are busy constructing their new High Performance Centre, while another sailed onto the university netball court. The power and timing were superb,” says the report.
According to a report in Deccan Chronicle, Sharma said, "It's an amazing knock. This will give him confidence that he has scored runs in that country (South Africa). It will also benefit him when India tours South Africa later in the year."
Sharma said the South African tracks suited the batting style of left-hander. "He likes the ball coming on to the bat and plays on the rise. He is timing the ball perfectly. He likes to hit the ball whenever it's in his radar. And it is yielding good results for him. These are the sort of pitches he likes to bat on," he said.