After a more than disappointing start to the campaign, Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Shikhar Dhawan found some form in the latest victory over the Gujarat Lions on Thursday.
The Indian national team opened was not at his best even in the T20 World Cup but needs to find some form for his domestic franchise who are largely dependent on the opening pair in the batting order.
Dhawan got himself an unbeaten half-century at more than a run a ball as he played second fiddle to Warner who is in sublime form at the moment.
The Delhi-born batsman revealed that he stopped pressurizing himself and that playing freely allowed him to settle into the game.
Dhawan, who has managed just single digit scores in the IPL before this game said, “I don’t pressurize myself, don’t stress myself too much if I’m not scoring runs.”
He revealed that he is trying to work hard and do all the practice drills properly but explained that it is a challenge that he takes positively.
“During the periods I am not scoring I learn a lot and I try and better myself. It is a new challenge and I have fun when the pressure increases. I take it positively, I never find failures bad,” he added, talking to the iplt20.com.
He also spoke about the fact that it was just the last two months that he has fallen into a slump and that it was important for him to ‘keep faith in himself’.
“It’s not that I’ve not been scoring runs for ages, it’s just been for four-five matches and it can happen to anyone.”
“I knew in one innings things will turn, so I’m happy the way I finished the game [today],” he added.
Dhawan and Warner, the openers were on fire against the Lions as they beat them with all 10 wickets in hand thanks to an unbeaten 137 run partnership from the duo and Dhawan was all praises for his skipper and fellow opening partner.
He said that the aggression shown by Warner has helped Dhawan take pressure off of himself and that he was happy to just rotate the strike and keep Warner who is in form on strike for as long as possible.
“Batting with Warner takes pressure off me, he’s in such good form.”
“It is helpful, I am thankful that he is leading from the front and batting amazingly. Because of him I got time to settle in today,” Dhawan added.
14 out of the 15 games that have finished in the IPL so far have been won by the team batting second and Dhawan had his opinion on this bizarre stat.
He said that for a batsman in the shorter format, it is always easier to know the number of runs required as it helps them pace their innings.
But he also acknowledged that the mindset of the teams also has a huge role to play.
“[Chasing and batting first] have their merits. There are teams that want to bat first, put up a big total and put pressure on the other team. But our bowlers bowled well and contained the opposition, so that helps,” he added.