Shikhar Dhawan enjoys the captaincy of both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni
Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan praised his skippers in the Test and shorter formats of the game, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, reports Cricket County. The 29-year-old also added that he is looking forward to the series against South Africa as it will be a challenging one.
With Dhawan now a regular fixture for the Indian team in the Test and ODI formats, he has played a lot of cricket under the captaincy of both Dhoni and Kohli. The Delhi opener claimed that they were two different people and Dhoni was extremely cool and composed as Kholi is aggressive and wants his team to be the same.
“It is a great honour for me to play under [MS] Dhoni-bhai because he is one of the greatest Indian captains and a great human being. I have played under him for two-three years now. Dhoni-bhai has always been the Captain Cool,” Dhawan said, before going on to praise Kohli as well.
“Virat, on the other hand, is an aggressive captain but in a good way. Virat is one of the fittest sportspersons and always emphasises a lot on fitness. He sets an example for the boys and pushes us to be fit at all times. Virat has led the team to a successful Test series win now. Our team is very positive and it is like a big family,” he said.
Shikhar who will be leading the India A side against Bangladesh A in the three-day match said that he is not looking too ahead with regards to captaining the national team in the future.
“I haven’t really thought about that. Whatever opportunity they give me, I just try to do my best and enjoy that opportunity. Future matters can be taken care of in future,” Dhawan said.
Dhawan acknowledges threat posed by Steyn
Having missed the last two Test matches against Sri Lanka due to injury, Dhawan is confident that he can recover in time for the series but conceded that the series will be a challenging one. One player who is expected to play a major role for South Africa is fast bowler Dale Steyn who Dhawan has captained when the two played together for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in the IPL.
“I have played against them, I have played with them. Of course, they are one of the best sides in the world and it is always going to be a challenge for us. The good thing is we are playing in India and will have home advantage. I am yet to see the bowling videos. Once I go for the preparatory camp and once the series starts, I will watch the videos and will observe their strengths and weaknesses. According to that, I will make my plans,” the southpaw said.
Dhawan, who has played 15 Tests & 64 ODIs and has opened the batting with a number of players already in his short career but said it was extremely hard to choose who his favourite partner was.
“I enjoy batting with everyone. I am lucky to play with all of them because I get to observe different types of character and play with them. If I talk about Murali Vijay or Rohit Sharma or even Ajinkya Rahane, all of them have different traits and I am lucky to have opened with so many of them. You gain a lot of experience when you play with such different personalities. It will be very hard for me to say who the best is because everyone has their specialty,” he said.
Dhawan opens up about his favourite sportspersons
Dhawan is already a well-known cricketer and most youngsters look up to him. When asked how about who his favourite sportspersons were, he had this to say: “My favourite sportsperson is Roger Federer. As for my favourite cricketer, I have too many: I like Yuvraj Singh’s batting, and then there is Sachin Tendulkar and even Brian Lara.”
Dhawan is someone who bats left- handed and bowls right-handed, just like Sourav Ganguly. While Dada started batting left- handed as he wanted to use his elder brother’s kit, Dhawan said that he became ambidextrous beacuse of his school teachers.
“I was totally left-handed. However, when you are young and your teachers have some different thoughts — they forced me, scolded me to write right-handed. That is why I can use both hands. I am naturally left-handed. Whatever God has gifted me, I appreciate it. I enjoy being a leftie,” Dhawan said.