Twitterati serve Shikhar Dhawan hot criticism after his dual failure

Dhawan failed to make a valuable contribution in both the innings and Team India missed runs from the top order.

By Ankit Mishra

View : 23.5K

5 Min Read

Shikhar Dhawan
info
Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan reacts. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

For a team to do well in England it is a prerequisite that their openers get them off to a good start. The job of the opening batters is to see through the new ball, handle the first burst of attack from the pacers, hang back and wait for the bad balls to get runs. There was always a doubt whether Shikhar Dhawan will be able to get going in those conditions, however, the team management expected him to make up for his lack in technique with temperament.

As far as the first Test match is concerned that didn’t happen. Virat Kohli wanted to accommodate KL Rahul in the playing XI and thus Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped and not Dhawan. Fans were surprised and rather shocked by this move, and the left-hander with the way he batted in both the innings of the match hasn’t proved the sceptics wrong either.

After the English team was bowled out early on day 2, Dhawan walked out alongside Murali Vijay and in the first half an hour things looked so easy, the ball wasn’t swinging there was hardly any movement and they were starting to play their shots. Just then Joe Root brought Sam Curran in the attack, the left-arm pacer swung the ball into the right-hander and struck Vijay on the pads to create the first opening. He then removed KL Rahul on the last ball of the same over and was really making the ball talk.

Dhawan instead of opting for a conservative sort of approach was still willing to play the drive far from his body. Curran got one to swing away and the southpaw opened the face of the bat to edge it to second slip for 26. In the second innings, their task was cut out, the team knew what they needed to win and it was 193 runs. India had a worse start this time as Vijay decided to leave one from Broad that came back in and as there was no shot offered he was given out despite being hit outside the line of the off-stump.

Dhawan accompanied his partner back in the change room soon enough as he edged one from Broad in his next over back to the keeper Jonny Bairstow having scored just 13. Thus in a Test match where a lot was expected of them, the opener completely failed and was served hot criticism on social media.

Here is how Twitterati reacted to Dhawan’s batting in the first Test:

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

googletelegraminstagramwhatsappyoutubethreadstwitter

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store