Two and half years back, at Mohali, a 27-year-old Shikhar Dhawan announced himself to the international arena when he smacked an explosive yet attractive 187 on Test debut. For him it was a pretty rapid climb to stardom as he soon established himself as a key member for India across formats. Irrespective of the format, Dhawan remained the same swashbuckler, who most more often than not twirled his moustache to glory. Now, coming to the ongoing South Africa tour of India 2015 and to the same venue where it all started for Dhawan, the southpaw is struggling to hold onto his place in the playing XI. LIVE SCORECARD: India vs South Africa, 2nd Test at Bengaluru
While the discussion at Mohali centred around the pitch assisting spin bowlers, life came to a full circle for Dhawan at Mohali, as he bagged a pair this time and in both the innings he fell to pacer Vernon Philander. The manner of dismissal too was identical — caught at slips. Ever since South Africa’s arrival in India, Dhawanhas struggled miserably across formats with the scores of 3, 11, 23, 23, 13, 7, 60, 0 and 0. While Morne Morkel had a gala time against him in the One-Day series, Philander, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the series, made Dhawan his bunny in the first Test. So far we have witnessed only the shadow of the man who bludgeoned the same bowling attack in Melbourne a few months back during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Dhawan is one of the senior members in the side and he doesn’t seem to be learning from his repeated mistakes. When runs have not come easy, he should then look to curb his instincts and focus on spending more time at the wicket. His opening partner Murali Vijay has a monk-like temperament and perhaps he should take a leaf out of his book and replicate that at least at the start of his innings. India’s batting line-up hasn’t been consistent and not many have been among runs. With Dhawan not in touch, he doesn’t inspire enough confidence and in a highly competitive scenario, don’t be surprised if hen makes way for Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul.
Options: Dhawan’s loss could be his One-Day international (ODI) opening partner Rohit’s gain. The team management has been quite vocal about their faith in Rohit. He enjoys a lot of support from captain Virat Kohli and team director Ravi Shastri. Also having Rohit now makes sense because of the form he has been in. The 28-year-old, who slammed a ton each in the T20I and ODI series respectively, recently brought up another hundred for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 last week. However, Rohit’s inclusion would mean Cheteshwar Pujara would have to open. The last time he did that was in Sri Lanka and not only he scored a match winning hundred but also went on to carry his bat. But Pujara has stated his preference and No. 3 is the spot he is most comfortable with.
KL Rahul is another opener in the squad and in a short career comprising just five Tests, he has already scored two hundreds but he hasn’t been consistent enough. With the second Test being played at Bangalore — Rahul’s home ground — it’s a tempting option.
Also, Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been drafted in the Test side as the 17th member. He has been in tremendous form and averages over 49 with the bat in First-Class cricket and 18.86 with his off-spin. If India look to strengthen the middle order and spin department by handing Gurkeerat his Test cap, then it will again have to be at Dhawan’s expense with Pujara having to open again.
Dhawan’s Test run: How poor has Dhawan really been? Yes, he hasn’t scored enough in the past month and half but he has three hundreds in the last three First-Class games that he has played, out of which two were in Test cricket. So just looking at the Test format, would it be fair to drop Dhawan on basis of one poor Test this year? Let’s compare Dhawan’s numbers to Rohit’s and Rahul’s.
Test career
| Players | M | R | NO | HS | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s |
| S Dhawan | 16 | 1158 | 0 | 187 | 41.35 | 63.8 | 4 | 2 |
| KL Rahul | 5 | 256 | 0 | 110 | 25.6 | 47.49 | 2 | 0 |
| Rohit Sharma | 14 | 870 | 2 | 177 | 37.82 | 52.47 | 2 | 4 |
Now let’s compare the numbers and see what they have done in Tests in 2015.
2015 Test record
| Players | M | R | NO | HS | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s |
| S Dhawan | 3 | 335 | 0 | 173 | 67 | 59.71 | 2 | 0 |
| KL Rahul | 4 | 252 | 0 | 110 | 31.5 | 47.9 | 2 | 0 |
| Rohit Sharma | 5 | 300 | 0 | 79 | 33.33 | 50.33 | 0 | 3 |
Comparing the numbers, it’s quite evident that Dhawan looks the most impressive out of the lot. Also when Dhawan gets going, he scores the runs at a brisk pace, which is important in Test cricket as it gives bowlers the extra time. After his dismal Mohali Test last week, Dhawan found support from Sunil Gavaskar, one of the greatest openers in the game’s history. Gavaskar said, “He struggled in the ODIs and then got a half-century in the final ODI and I think may be he deserves another Test because once again if you leave him you have two right-handers at the crease. I would certainly want to give Dhawan another chance.”
Just days before the series against South Africa got underway, Dhawan coming back from a hand injury led India A to an innings victory against the touring Bangladesh A side at Bangalore. Dhawan smacked 150 from only 146-ballsand celebrated once again twirling his moustache.
Usually winning combinations aren’t changed and the team management may look to give another game to Dhawan and hope his trademark celebrations will follow soon. If that happens then Bangalore is set to celebrate an extended Diwali.
(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sports marketer , strategist, entrepreneur, philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he finds solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully and rivu7)
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