Former India batter Ajay Jadeja got impressed with Shikhar Dhawan’s opening in the first ODI against Zimbabwe and said that he finds a peculiar similarity between Dhawan and the great Sachin Tendulkar.
Jadeja further explained that Dhawan is trying to reinvent himself in order to match with the younger generation which reminds him of Tendulkar.
ALSO READ: Stat Attack: Shikhar Dhawan-Shubman Gill’s Massive Stand Help India Register Record Win Over Zimbabwe
During the post-match show, the former batter said, “There will always be a period where you are re-energised and you’ve got to change your game because the next generation is always quicker, faster, smarter. And they always push you. A good example is going back to Sachin Tendulkar. Think of him when Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and all these guys came in. He did exactly the same thing in his career. He had to reinvent himself, changed the pace at which he was playing the game to keep up with the younger lot."
Dhawan, 36, has only a few years of cricket left in front of him but the experienced batter is having best of his times right now. His batting and fun videos on Instagram speak for themselves that how energetic Dhawan is. During a post-match interaction, Dhawan was asked about his experience of batting with youngster Shubman Gill, to which he said, “Absolutely, I am enjoying batting with a youngster and feel like one as well".
On the same note, Jadeja said, “You’ve got to catch up. Sometimes as a senior player you tend to take it easy, you’ve been around for so long… You stagnate at a certain place. But when that next generation comes, it starts pushing you. The first time was when Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly came in and the next change was when Yuvraj, Sehwag and Dhoni came in. And you can see the same with Shikhar."
Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill have shown great potential as openers in the recent ODI series India. The left-hand, right-hand combination of Dhawan and Gill has tasted success in almost all the matches they’ve opened together starting from the West Indies tour.
They had a great outing on Thursday (August 18) as well when the duo stitched an unbeaten 192-run partnership against Zimbabwe in the first ODI in Harare. Gill played a powerful unbeaten knock of 82 off 72 while Dhawan also scored 81 not out from 113 balls.
Dhawan might not be a part of India’s T20I and Test squads any longer but the veteran India opener has shown consistency with every ODI series and has proven that why is he an indispensable part of the ODI set-up.
Dhawan and Gill complemented each other well on Thursday as both took an active charge of the match. Initially, Dhawan was the aggressor, while Gill played himself in, and in the final 10 overs, the roles reversed. India achieved the target quite comfortably with average of six runs every over.
Also Read: Dhawan Enjoying Batting With ‘Youngster Gill’
“If Zimbabwe had any little hope of defending their total, it was in the first 10 overs, it was shut soon. It was in two parts, which tells you the maturity of these two batters. They understood what was required what needed to be done at which stage of the innings. Dhawan was the senior partner, he knew what to do. But what I enjoyed was watching Shubman Gill; he is only 22 years old but he seems to possess an experienced-player’s head on his shoulders," Jadeja said.
Both Gill and Dhawan showcased exemplary performances. With 388 runs, Dhawan was India’s leading run-scorer in ODIs in 2022 and he extended his run tally to 469 while playing against Zimbabwe. Dhawan scored his 38th ODI fifty as India cantered to a 10-wicket victory after chasing down 190 inside 30.5 overs against Zimbabwe.
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