Not technique but mindset is Shikhar Dhawan’s problem, feel experts

Cricket experts Aakash Chopra and Vijay Dahiya agreed that India star opener Shikhar Dhawan is going through a bad patch but both of them are confident that the left-hander will turn it around

Cricket experts Aakash Chopra and Vijay Dahiya agreed that India star opener Shikhar Dhawan is going through a bad patch but both of them are confident that the left-hander will turn it around. The former Test players believe that it is not that Dhawan is facing any technical issues; it is more about his mindset rather than technique.

Dhawan’s form in the recent few series has been a cause of concern for his team. Asia Cup top-scorer Dhawan has managed to get just two 50-plus scores at a below par average of 26.85 in the last 15 innings to show for his efforts.

While Aussie speedster Nathan Coulter-Nile dismissed Dhawan in the first ODI in Hyderabad, Dhawan (21) looked comfortable in the second ODI but just when it seemed good, he was adjudged leg before wicket off part-time spinner Glenn Maxwell in the ninth over.

Even former India keeper and analyst Deep Dasgupta thinks that “mindset is an issue as Dhawan has always found ways to score runs, working around his technique.” “There is no denying Dhawan is going through a bad patch but with only three international matches left, I don’t see any drastic changes happening,” Chopra told PTI on the eve of the third game.

 “If he has scored 5000 plus ODI runs (5199 from 125 games), it means that he has been around for a reasonable period of time, seen ups and downs to have scored that many runs. “His record in multi-nation tournaments (World Cup, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup) is fabulous, so it could well be a matter of time that he is back in form,” feels Chopra.

Dahiya thinks Dhawan’s issue is that of mindset and trying to score quickly.

“I won’t say technique is a big issue here as the boundaries that he got were all in-front of the wicket. May be not on the off-side but those were not behind the stumps shots either,” said Dahiya, who believes that every individual reacts to pressure in different situation.

“What he was trying to do was to score quickly and that’s what happened against Maxwell. He probably felt that since Maxwell is a part-time, he can score quickly and that’s why played that pull shot,” Dahiya said.

Talk about shot selection, Dasgupta feels that it happens when you are in supposedly a “bit of a comfort zone”.

“He was set in Nagpur and he could have easily played it to either long-off or long-on for a single. This happens when you are a bit confused. With Shikhar, if he plays that expansive cover drive with a big front-foot stride inside the first two overs, you know that he is in good touch,” Dasgupta.

The pressure of competition can at times affect the mindset and KL Rahul finding his form could be a reason, believes Dahiya.

“You will only feel the pressure when someone pushes you. It is very important to know how your mind works in those situations,” said Dahiya.

But Chopra ruled out the Rahul factor when it comes to choice of playing XI.

“Had they split these matches (2 T20s and 5 ODIs) into seven games with 4 matches for Shikhar and 3 for Rohit with Rahul playing all seven, there could have been that possibility. But that didn’t happen,” said Chopra.

But Chopra did raise a pertinent point about Dhawan not playing any first class cricket for the entire month of December.

“He exactly didn’t set the stage on fire against West Indies at home and since he was not in Test side against Australia, he could have come back and played Ranji Trophy. It would have helped him as well as our domestic cricket. But that didn’t happen.”