Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar believes that the ODI format is the one that suits Shikhar Dhawan the most. The veteran Indian cricketer has an outstanding record in one-day internationals. In 150 ODIs, he has 6315 runs to his name at an average of 45.8. While praising his numbers in the limited over’s cricket, Manjrekar said,
“Shikhar Dhawan who’s got only one format now that he can cling on but interestingly right through his career, from start to end, if you look at his performance in 50 overs cricket, it’s always been the best,” said Manjrekar during Sports18 show Sports Over The Top.
“This is a format that suits him best and a format where he’s been excellent. And I’m so glad that selectors have shown faith in him and reminded themselves that Shikhar Dhawan is still a force in 50 overs cricket. So brilliant to see them at the top,” added Manjrekar.
Shikhar Dhawan made his return to international cricket in the recently concluded first ODI against England. He played an unbeaten knock of 31 runs in 54 balls, including 4 fours, helping the team win the game by 10 wickets.
“I’m glad that Dhawan got this innings together and I hope he keeps on getting this kind of innings together because Rohit Sharma will be around. He’s playing, you know, all the formats and the left-hand, right-hand combination at the top, I think it’ll be okay.
“And if you look at Dhawan’s fitness, he doesn’t look his age on the field and it’s something that he cares a lot about making sure that he’s fit and fine and just pure batting. If you look at his performance in the domestic leagues although the T20 league, I think his batting has gone up like this, the graph has gone up with the age as well,” explained Manjrekar.
The southpaw is part of the Indian team, which is currently playing the second ODI at Lord’s. At the time of writing, England have lost 6 wickets for 160 runs in 33 overs in the first innings.