Shikhar Dhawan almost smashes the spidercam with a monstrous blow

It came off a free-hit.

Published - 12 Nov 2018, 13:03 IST | Updated - 12 Nov 2018, 13:03 IST

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Shikhar Dhawan had an ordinary series against the Windies during the ODIs but had a better show in the T20Is. The final game of the three-match T20I series played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai saw the hard-hitting left-hand opener scoring 92 off 62 balls and steer India to a 3-0 win. It was during his knock that almost fetched him his first century in the T20Is that Dhawan almost hit the spidercam hovering above the ground. The shot though ended up being a six.

Dhawan put up a crucial 130-run partnership in 13 overs with wicket-keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant (58) for the third wicket to guide India towards their target of 182 runs. He, however, got dismissed in the second last delivery of the match with India needing one run off the final ball. Manish Pandey completed the formalities to give captain Rohit Sharma his second 3-0 victory in a T20I series.

Dhawan hits Thomas out of park

The left-hand batsman’s sky-touching shot came in the 11th over when Oshane Thomas, the Caribbeans’ find on this tour, was bowling. Thomas dismissed Shikhar Dhawan quite a few times during the ODI series and it was time for the seasoned batsman to hit back. He swung the length ball over the deep midwicket area by using the depth of the crease and the result was the maximum.

The fact that the delivery was a free hit since the previous one was a no-ball made Dhawan even more daring in his attempt. It was not a shot that would make the purists of the game convinced but in the rush of T20 cricket, it was highly effective. The shot received quite an elevation and had almost kissed the spidercam above en route the fence. In January last year, former captain MS Dhoni had smashed a ball into the spidercam while batting.

In 2016, Dhoni had called for a balance when games saw a number of unwanted consequences like ball not reaching the boundary or fielder dropping a sitter because of the machine hovering above. The ball is declared dead if it touches the spidercam.