Disciplined Dhawan gives Kohli, India great platform

NORTH SOUND (ANTIGUA): You expect one thing. Something else happens. India scoring at an acceptable run rate on the first day of the first Test in a four-match series against a lower-ranked team is expected. A little unexpected was all the jumping and hopping around to a fast bowler playing only his second Test against India on a pitch expected to slow down over time.

Looking back at the first day, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane probably possessed more technical finesse and shots to choose from but Shikhar Dhawan showed more discipline. And had Dhawan not held out against the temptation to hit out, the consolidation job could have become that much difficult for Virat Kohli. A century would have probably been a better individual achievement for Dhawan but this knock of 84 was almost as good as any he has played in recent years.

The discipline that governed Dhawan’s transformation in the IPL after a string of lackluster scores was the same that allowed him to play the waiting game on Thursday. He had started the IPL on the edge. He ended it with patient but effective knocks that guided Sunriers Hyderabad to the final and eventually win it. Key to this transformation is the shuffle of stance Dhawan admitted to incorporating during the IPL.

“I have brought that shuffle in my basics. I started doing that in IPL and I feel that it is working well for me at the moment and will keep doing it till the time it goes well for me,” said Dhawan after the end of day’s play.

But it wasn’t only about the shuffle. A naturally attacking batsman, Dhawan took the pain to cut down the risky shots. He hardly played anything to his offside, preferring to stay back in the crease and pull, cut or flick the ball according to the length. But it was only after Dhawan had been tested by bounce and pace of Shannon Gabriel.

Vijay was content with either leaving the ball or showing the face of his bat, pushing forward or retreating according to the length of the delivery. On the other hand was Dhawan who was more grit and less footwork. It was Dhawan though who scored India’s first boundary, rocking back to pull Jason Holder over deep squareleg in the second over. Next over, Vijay opened his arms to drive a boundary through gully and point. Looking in far better control, Vijay started taking more of the strike till a time when he had faced thrice the deliveries that had gone Dhawan’s way.

But Gabriel looked to bowl to a plan. While Holder started bowling a fuller length from the other end, Gabriel decided to pitch it shorter by the time he caught Dhawan again on his crosshair. Dug in short, the first one reared up to catch Dhawan by surprise. Next delivery whizzed past Dhawan’s eyes. Even Vijay wasn’t spared but he showed better technique and watched the ball till the last moment. Dhawan was in more discomfort. “I was respecting the good balls and knew that I cannot afford to take a chance because there was extra bounce on the wicket. So I was playing close to my body and was not in a hurry and relaxed at the crease,” said Dhawan.

Ultimately it was Vijay who fell first. It was that kind of a delivery though, jutting in after pitching and suddenly climbing on Vijay before he could even react properly. Vijay’s replacement Cheteshwar Pujara was possibly the best batsman in that situation. Opening his account with the ninth ball he faced, Pujara went on to face two more overs of disciplined pace bowling after Carlos Brathwaite almost got through Dhawan’s gates with an inside edge. Before that, Dhawan had edged Holder and looked off colour against Gabriel whose first spell read 4-2-6-1.

Brathwaite was miserly but Roston Chase finally gave India that much needed recovery period. Dhawan got his breath back, started cutting the ball better as Pujara went about picking singles and downing the shutters when required.

Having done the hard work in the first session, Pujara should have ideally got into acceleration mode but that is when Devendra Bishoo struck with a bad delivery. Dhawan’s discipline against committing anything rash however kept him afloat.

In the context of the match, key moments like these could on go to make the difference.