Xtra Time Web Desk : Team India on Wednesday were be up suffered a 31 run defeat in the 1st ODI on the hands of a resilient South African team led by Temba Bavuma. And after the match, opener Shikhar Dhawan in a virtual press conference spoke his mind out on what he thought about the game and his own batting too.
Speaking about Team India’s middle order collapse, the 36 year old batter said, “We had a good start and I feel the wicket was slow, it was offering a bit of turn as well. So, when you are chasing (around) 300 runs, when the middle-order comes to bat, it is not easy to play shots. Our wickets fell in a heap and that had an impact on us as a batting unit. Of course, from our team we did not have a century and we did not have a big partnership,”
Team India’s inexplicable middle-order collapse ensured that fine half-centuries from Dhawan and Virat Kohli did not count for much.
Asked what was the turning point of the game, he said, “I feel both the South African batsmen batted quite well and they took the innings quite deep,”
Also, opening up about his own batting, the southpaw added, “Yes, the plan was to play on merit in the beginning and it was a sort of wicket that we get back home. I was carrying forward my flow, but when the wickets fell, it was in my mind to stitch a big partnership. It wasn’t easy for the new batsmen to make runs, the plan of the set batsmen was to take it deep, but unfortunately I got out, didn’t expect the turn, but yes that happens,”
On being asked about how he puts all the negativity behind after setbacks, Dhawan added, “I don’t listen to the media or don’t read newspapers or watch news, that way I don’t take all that information. I have full confidence in myself that what my game is and I stay quite calm. Ups and downs are part of life.”
(News Source : PTI)