“Runs are hard to come by since the introduction of new rules,” says Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan after he scored a dazzling century against Zimbabwe on Friday. He hasn’t been amongst the runs in last few matches and that was quite visible in his tentative feet movement in the first 10-15 overs.
Dhawan has made his way to the Indian squad after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were finding it too hard to score runs at consistent basis. With Dhawan’s explosive batting, it looks quite certain that Sehwag and Gambhir had to make some special efforts to make their way back to this Indian squad.
Dhawan was quoted by Deccan Chronicle saying, "It's more difficult nowadays because you've got new balls from both ends. When the ball is swinging you really need to play close to your body.”
"You'll see that in the first 10 overs, openers are not scoring that many nowadays because the ball is new and it swings a lot and you have to be more careful," Dhawan added.
The Delhi-dasher believes that playing new balls from both the ends requires more of a smart work as at time you need to smash those lose deliveries for boundaries otherwise wait and watch policy can back-fire. Apart from that, shot-selection equally matters, especially when the team has not got an ideal start.
Dhawan was quoted by Deccan Herald saying, "Shot selection is very important, because you don't want to lose wickets at the start and put pressure on the rest of the side.” He is happy with the way players are blending with each other in the dressing room and winning these back to back ODIs also lifts the spirit in the dressing room.
"Our team is gelling really nicely. All the young boys are very fit and really good in the field. Fielding-wise, we have really improved a lot. I feel like everything is working our way," he said.