Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan came into the Australia tour under pressure having failed miserably in his earlier away tour in England. He had tasted success in the home series against Sri Lanka, registering a hundred and two fifties in consecutive games. Then, for some inexplicable reason, he was rested, and since his return to the side he has just not been among the runs. He got a half-century at Brisbane, but that too came under controversial circumstances. His repeated failures are proving to be a big headache for India. Here's a statistical look at Dhawan's terrible showing on the tour so far.
The practice games: The trouble for Dhawan Down Under began from the warm-up matches itself. He made 0 and 10 in the two warm-up matches against CA XI and CA Invitation XI. The left-hander looked out of sorts right from the time he arrived in Australia.
Dhawan's horror run in Tests: The left hander began the Tests on a poor note as well. He made 25 in the first innings of the first Test at Adelaide. The southpaw needed to carry on, but was dismissed after getting a start, and that pretty much set the tone of the series for him. In the second innings, he managed only nine. Dhawan went into the Brisbane Test under a lot of pressure. Dhawan again got a start, getting to 24 before giving his wicket away. The second innings saw something highly controversial taking place. Dhawan said he was unable to go out and resume his overnight innings as he had hurt himself during practice. This led to what MS Dhoni described as 'some unrest' in the dressing room. Eventually, Dhawan came out to bat in the middle-over, and made 81 to rescue his career temporarily.
If India hoped the knock that Brisbane would have done wonders to the Indian opener's confidence, they were wrong. Dhawan was back to his uncertain ways during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. He made only 28 in the first essay, and was dismissed for a duck in the second. Not surprisingly, even though India saved the game, Dhawan was dropped for the New Year's Test at Sydney. Lokesh Rahul replaced him at the top of the order , and came up with a gutsy hundred. Dhawan would probably not be seen in whites for a while now.
One-day woes: India recalledDhawan to the one-day eleven in the hope that he would perform better in the format which he is more comfortable with. But, that too has ended up being an illusion as Dhawan has struggled against the ball outside the off stump in the shorter version of the game as well. He hasn't shown even the basic technique needed to keep the regulation outswinging delivery away. He was dismissed for 2 against Australia at Melbourne, and for 1 against England at Brisbane, both times hanging his bat outside the off stump. The injury to Rohit Sharma meant Dhawan got another shot to resurrect himself on Republic Day at Sydney. But, it was the same old story as Dhawan repeated his mode of dismissal for 8.
--By A Cricket Analyst
