 | « Back to article | Print this article |
If the innings against Pakistan showed he was still capable of what his ODI average of 45 exhibits, then his comeback was complete on Sunday at the MCG with the century against what's often termed as one of the best attacks in the world.
When the selectors were about to meet to decide on India’s squad for the World Cup, the one name that got repeatedly bandied about for selection was Murali Vijay.
After all, Vijay had had an excellent tour of Australia as an opener, scoring a century and four fifties in the four Tests. Conversely, his opening partner in the series, Shikhar Dhawan, had a struggle and that's understating the case.
As if his chink of nicking them to the slips hadn't got to an endemic level, he had begun to inside edge them back on to the stumps as well, probably in an attempt to over-compensate for the wide-ish drives.
- Catch all the World Cup action, here
The refrain from most fans was that Vijay should have made the World Cup squad. If not as a replacement for Dhawan, then at least as a back-up for the woefully out of sorts Delhi opener.
The selectors did not oblige. India went in with their two regular openers and with Ajinkya Rahane to back them up.
And the general consensus was that the selectors had primed the team to fail at the top: an out of form Dhawan and an injured Rohit Sharma, just about to return to the side, having only just passed the fitness test was a recipe for disaster, or that's what they thought anyway.
Dhawan had shown signs of returning to some sort of rhythm in the game against England at Perth, but the worry was that it had happened before. The second Test in Brisbane was a case in point, where he went down the order in the second dig, made an 80 and the expectation from him was that he would go on to rediscover his best touch.
We all know how that one ended.
The next match at Melbourne had him get 28 and 0 before he was dropped for the Sydney Test. His return in the ODIs was equally bad, spending virtually no time at the crease in the first three games - scores of 2, 1 and 8 raising the calls for Vijay's selection.
- PHOTOS: India thrash South Africa
To come from there and get two starts, and convert them into something substantial, was no mean feat. In fact, a lot of credit must go to the team management and the captain for having held on to the crumbs of faith that Dhawan had managed to offer them every now and then.
Against Pakistan at the ongoing World Cup, Dhawan was the junior partner to a Virat Kohli master-piece, but it was a totally different batsman against South Africa.
If the Pakistan innings showed he was still capable of what his ODI average of 45 exhibits, then his comeback was complete on Sunday at the MCG with the century against what's often termed as one of the best attacks in the world.
Dhoni's faith in Dhawan seemed unshaken and he refused to even call Dhawan's return to form as a comeback. He said: "?Comeback is only one game; I cannot say he made a comeback after two solid performances.
“He batted well, batted well in the nets, he was rotating the strike. He was there after getting his 100, good on his part to stay till end, general tendency is to go for runs after 25 overs."
India’s skipper also made an interesting point, one that's often overlooked in the euphoria of a player getting to a century. A batsman with those many to his name is often a batsman who is the most set at the crease but onc who is the most vulnerable when getting to his century. For him to convert it to something bigger, get to the 130s and the 140s, if not much more, is often quite vital for a team's chances.
He said: "It's important if you get a hundred and you are able to score 130 or 140 runs you always see the team getting those extra 20 or 25 runs.
"So it was good on his part to make sure he stays until the end because the general tendency at times is for the openers, after the 25th over, they like to play the big shots. They think their job is over. But I think in these conditions once you are set you have to make the most of it."
Dhawan will know the job is only half-done now. Sure one cannot expect one batsmen to keep getting the runs every innings and surely the pitches could get bouncier and move a lot more than the ones he has encountered in the first two games, but if there was one thing he was sorely lacking, it was his confidence. With that element making its presence felt back in Dhawan's repertoire, the sky can be the limit.
Could we end up seeing a repeat of the 2013 Champions Trophy then, where he had gone on to end the tournament with the highest number of runs and the man-of-the-tournament award?
Early signs are definitely good.
- Apostrophe Content and Entertainment