Debasis Sen, Cape Town: India opener Shikhar Dhawan has stood behind his opening partner Rohit Sharma ahead of the 3rd ODI against South Africa at the Newlands Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. Rohit, who has scored 35 runs in the two innings he has played. But his opening partner, Dhawan doesn’t consider it to be much of a problem. According to him, Rohit is timing the ball well, and a good knock is not far away.
“I feel Rohit is playing well, looking at the way he is timing the ball. Even in the last match he was playing really good. Unfortunately he got out but, I don’t feel concerned about his batting at all. He has performed so well right from the Champions Trophy, till now. Sometimes it does happen that you don’t score runs. But what matters the most is how he is timing the ball. There is no problem at all with his form. I think he just needs one good innings, to solve all problems,” said Dhawan ahead of the 3rd ODI here at Newlands.
The Indian team has been in crushing form against the Proteas in the ODI series thanks to the form of the two wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzuvendra Chahal. Till now Chahal has seven wickets in two games, whereas Yadav has six scalps to his name. The duo has earned praise from every corner.
According to Dhawan,”It is difficult to play wrist-spinners because they have the ability to turn the ball on flat tracks as well. And when the ball starts to turn, foreign player find it really difficult, because they are not used to playing such kind of turn. That can create a doubt in batsman’s mind. That is why they are really effective.”
On being asked who is the difficult bowler to play at the nets, Dhawan said, “Out of the two spinners Kuldeep and Chahal, the former is more difficult to read as he is a chinaman bowler. There are certain players who can’t read the googly. As far as Chahal is concerned, not many players read his googly.”
The Southpaw feels that one of major reasons for India’s success in the ODIs is because of the great balance that the team possess. “We are a really balanced side. The good part is we have youth, as well as experience in the side. The youngsters are also showing a lot of maturity. So that is our biggest strength. And in our ranks we have an all-rounder as well, which really helps us. That gives a lot of flexibility to the squad. So we can time the introduction of our spinners according to the situation of the match.”