Satire: Why Shikhar Dhawan playing the Kolkata Test is win-for-all situation

The day started with one of the biggest questions Indian cricket history has ever faced – whether to give Gautam Gambhir a chance to re-establish his Test career or to continue with Shikhar Dhawan as the second opener. It was a question every Indian cricket fan was pondering over. If Einstein was a cricket expert alive now, even he would have failed to answer who will walk out to open with Murali Vijay among the two Delhiites before the toss.

It was a question not only the Indian dressing room was worried about. New Zealand dressing room, which was already dejected with the non-inclusion of Stuart Binny was also looking forward to the decision of the Indian management. Kiwi skipper, Kane Williamson had publically spoken how disappointed his team has been that the Indian side has shown them no hospitality by snubbing Binny from their squad.

At the toss, Virat Kohli was asked why he picked Dhawan instead of Gambhir, Kohli said: “We wanted to make up for our mistake in the first Test. We have always been a good host to the visiting teams and New Zealand is one of the most loved cricket teams in the country. Cricket is a gentleman’s game and picking Dhawan is probably the best way to show our love for them.”

When both the captains came in for the toss, the first thing that New Zealand’s stand-in captain, Ross Taylor did was to check India’s team sheet to see if Dhawan was playing or not.

Also read – MS Dhoni: The Untold Story review: Details his journey and rise in Indian cricket

Shikhar Dhawan was himself surprised with his name in the playing XI. When he was asked to bat in the nets with Murali Vijay yesterday, even he might have thought that the team wanted him to stay in touch with the game and be ready for the ODI series. That seems to be the only reason that he booked tickets for the second show of the biopic on MS Dhoni with his family on match day.

When our reporter caught him at INOX Forum at around Lunch time at Eden Gardens and asked him what he was doing there during the match time, he replied: “Honestly, I was not expecting my name in the XI. I thought I have replaced Binny as the new water-boy in the camp for Test cricket at least so I asked Amit Mishra, who also spent a lot of time on the bench to fill in for me while I am at the movie. It is my mistake. I should have talked to Kohli before booking tickets for the movie.”

On being asked why he didn’t book tickets for the first show, he claimed that he was late for booking the tickets for the first show just like he gets late in playing the ball that swings in.

Shikhar Dhawan’s fans were in high spirits throughout the day, firstly, because their hero was selected to play the game and then because of his performance. Going by his track record and the experience of watching him struggle against left-arm seamers like Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc in Australia, many were expecting him to take the long walk back to the pavilion in the first over itself especially with Trent Boult (another skillful left arm seamer) bowling the first over. But he showed a lot of skill to negotiate the first over and even got off the mark with a single on the last ball which was certainly a reason to rejoice for his fans.

Also check out – Twitter reactions: Rohit Sharma gets slammed for poor show

On the other hand, Gambhir fan had a day to forget. Neither could they see Gambhir bat nor they could show their grudges against MS Dhoni by criticizing his biopic. The movie opened with great response, both critically and financially which certainly robbed Gambhir fans off a chance to disparage Dhoni. Dhawan’s 10-ball stay at the crease though came as a consolation for them.

In the end, Dhawan did not disappoint anyone by chopping the ball onto his stumps off the inside edge of his bat. He was a perfect host to the New Zealand team by gifting them with an early wicket, he survived the first over to give his fans enough time to watch him play and he also kept the hopes of Gambhir’s comeback alive by not scoring much (or not scoring at all) and was also a good family man as he did not have to cancel the movie plans with his family as he got out in time to catch the show. More than that, he made his ODI and T20 captain, MS Dhoni smile by watching his movie on the first day.

Disclaimer: It is a satire post and all the characters, story, content is work of fiction and meant for entertainment purpose only.

Written by Shubham Aggarwal