Shikhar Dhawan’s Test career has taken an unfortunate turn. Not very long ago, he was a part of the team across formats. However, his poor performance in overseas Tests last year cost him his place. Despite his known struggles in overseas Tests, the team backed him in England and it backfired.
In the first innings of the first Test, he got the start and was batting on 26 before poking at an away going delivery from Sam Curran. He struggled in the second innings too as he edged a Stuart Broad delivery to the wicketkeeper after scoring 13.
Consequently, he lost his place in the team for the Lord’s Test. But he made a comeback in the team after Murali Vijay flopped. In his comeback game, he had good starts but couldn’t capitalise on them. Then innings of 23 and 17 in the fourth game further piled pressure on him. And the southpaw ended the tour on a dismal note by scoring 3 and 1 in the final Test. He was then dropped for the home series against Windies and has not received any call-up since then.
Consequently, he did not play in the historic Test series win in Australia. He has now revealed what he did when his teammates were playing the Tests in Australia.
“I had five-six weeks off and I was training hard. My trainer gave me training schedules so I was following that. It was a good break for me going forward to World Cup 2019 so I can be fresh and strong. And yes, I was doing my skill work. I am happy to be back in the side, playing matches and raring to go,” he said.
With Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal impressing, Dhawan is unlikely to return to the team soon. The southpaw, meanwhile, had a poor outing in the recently-concluded T20I series against Australia, scoring just 55 runs in three games.