It’s not like I don’t want to face fast bowlers, asserts Dhawan

OPENER Shikhar Dhawan has asserted that he can very well take on the fast bowlers but at the same time conceded that he doesn’t want to face the innings’ first ball whenever a pacer starts the proceedings.

Dhawan was responding to the not-too-flattering recent remarks about him by his opening partner Rohit Sharma and David Warner, his former teammate at Sunrisers Hyderabad.

‘No, no I disagree to that. It’s not like I don’t want to face fast bowlers. Everyone has their views, I am an opening batsman. I have done that role for India for eight years now, so obviously I play the fast bowlers,’ Dhawan said during an Instagram live session with former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan on Wednesday.

‘If I do not face them in the first over, then I eventually do in the second over,’ he added. While Dhawan has played many fine innings since making his India debut, it is his opening partner Rohit, who has emerged as the team’s batting mainstay alongside captain Virat Kohli.

He was candid about his unwillingness to take strike first up when a speed merchant is operating at the other end, calling it more of a ‘mental’ thing.