Shikhar Dhawan is a terrific one-day player: Sourav Ganguly

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has showered praises on India opener Shikhar Dhawan for his belligerent innings against Sri Lanka in the first ODI. The left-hander smashed an unbeaten 132 off just 90 deliveries to finish the chase in 28.5 overs. Ganguly said that Dhawan is a terrific one-day player and it’s a treat to watch him play.

The southpaw has been in the form of his life since the Champions Trophy this year but he has taken a special liking to the Sri Lankan bowlers. On Sunday he scored his third ton of the series and bettered his excellent record against the island nation in ODIs.

“He’s (Shikhar Dhawan) is a terrific one-day player. His form in one-day cricket has been terrific for the past five-six years. Whether you go to Australia, England and now in Sri Lanka. He enjoys batting in this format, he has got tremendous faith in his abilities,” the former skipper said.

“He knows how to pace the innings and it was another exponent of a typical Shikhar Dhawan type of an innings. It was great to watch. The attack maybe mediocre but you still got to get runs on the board, still have to get runs to get a 100 and I think he has done exceptionally well,” Ganguly added.

Dhawan’s Test hundreds are more special

The 45-year-old rated Shikhar’s Test hundreds higher than the ODI knocks and said he has gone through a lot of ups and downs in his Test career. The left-hander was frequently dropped from the Test team outside the subcontinent owing to the poor returns but he has always come back with the bang.

“For me his Test hundreds will be more special than his one-day hundreds because his Test performances haven’t been best for the last couple of years. In and out, dropped on overseas tour, he has found life hard when he has gone away from the sub-continent but to come back from nowhere and get those two hundreds in those three Test matches…I thought was a bit more special,” said the Prince of Kolkata told India Today.