Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly believes that Shikhar Dhawan should scrap the cover drive. In fact, if a bowler gets the ball in the driving range to Shikhar Dhawan, his eyes generally lights up.
The Indian southpaw batsman was dismissed in a similar fashion when he tried to drive through the covers in the first Test match at Edgbaston. The left-handed opener had gone with hard hands and perished in the process. In fact, Dhawan’s who likes to cover drive was vulnerable against the moving ball.
Shikhar Dhawan has perished while trying to play cover drives.
Sourav Ganguly said that Shikhar Dhawan needs mental discipline to play other shots in his arsenal. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan might not break into the playing XI as India would go with Murali Vijay and KL Rahul.
“India will need a good start at the top which has not happened yet. Whether a Dhawan instead of Vijay will help them to counter-attack is another question, but whoever is entrusted with the job will need to stand tall and that will provide respite to the middle-order to take the fight back to England. There is a chance that Dhawan might play and if he does, the big booming cover drives have to be put away. He needs mental discipline to play other shots which he is capable of and play much more on the back foot. Will India play Karun Nair as the sixth batsman? That could be a good option,” Ganguly wrote for Times of India.
Time for India to show resistance.
The Prince of Kolkata went on to add that Indian need to show resistance with the bat. India had struggled to get going in the swinging conditions and must fight back in the third Test match.
“The third Test will test India’s resilience. Virat and his boys have had a tough time, especially at Lord’s, countering the swing bowling but they need to remember that in South Africa they came back strongly to win the third Test. They are 2-0 down, but there are still three matches to go, which is a lot of cricket. If rain does not take three days away, all the games will have results,” Sourav Ganguly wrote.
Meanwhile, India has their backs against the wall as they are currently 0-2 down in the five-match series. It is high time that the tourists tick the right boxes in the third Test match to keep breathing in the series.
On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan might not play in the third Test match.
