Shikhar Dhawan shaken up - Childhood coach Madan Sharma

Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan announced himself on the world stage with a bang by slamming a 187 against Australia on his Test debut. Strong performances in the Champions Trophy in England meant that Dhawan was looked at as a long term fix for India’s opening slot.

A full tour of South Africa and 4 ODIs in New Zealand later, Dhawan finds himself desperately short of ways to counter the short ball and out of the ODI side. Dhawan has managed a paltry 160 runs in his last 9 outings and has found himself repeatedly incapable of dealing with short-pitched bowling.

The barrage of short-pitched stuff has shaken him up and made him uncertain, according to his childhood coach Madan Sharma.

“He was bothered by the persistent short deliveries bowled to him in South Africa. He came back to India and started training with plastic balls. He deliberately left the short balls in his last Test innings in South Africa before falling to a spinner. He knows he can’t pull every short delivery abroad, like he did in India. But in limited-overs cricket, he is struggling to let so many balls go. He said the team’s support staff has told him to stay aggressive,” Sharma told TOI on Wednesday.

“He called me after the third ODI and said that the bowlers had decided to keep bowling short to him no matter what. He thought the bowler would pitch one up after he pulled a short delivery to the boundary. That’s why he jumped out of his crease but the next ball was banged in again and he mistimed the pull,” Sharma said, expressing surprise at Dhawan being benched for the fourth ODI.

“He has been thinking about bouncers a lot. He is making the same mistakes. Even he realizes that the more he plays away from home, the better he will get at dealing with pace and bounce,” Sharma added.

Former India opener and Delhi selector Chetan Chauhan said the left-hander needed to be more patient.

“During his days with the Delhi team, I used to tell him not to step out to faster bowlers so frequently. Now that there aren’t enough runs behind him, he is over-eager to hit out and get back among the runs. He has to be more patient and judicious with his shot-selection. But he needs to be persisted with. Dropping him after five games is not fair,” Chauhan said.

Vijay Dahiya, the assistant coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, who has seen Dhawan grow as a batsman, says it’s the only way Shikhar has played all his life.

“Everybody liked him batting this way last year and nobody bothered about his technique. He will figure something out. Maybe a break is good for him and he will come back fresh.”

India take on New Zealand in the 5th ODI tomorrow and will go on to play 2 Tests with Dhawan expected to take up the opening slot for the Test matches.