We all know Shikhar Dhawan to be a destructive left-handed batsman who can crush any kind of bowling attack in Tests. How can we forget his fabulous knock of 187 in his debut against Australia which just came in 174 balls. This particular knock brought Dhawan in the limelight as he created the record of the fastest Test century on debut by any batsman.
Recently in the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Fatullah, he thrashed the Bangladesh bowlers mercilessly to reach a score of 173 in 195 balls.
Till now, it seems everything perfect about this 29 year old southpaw but when it comes to his performance in pitches outside the Indian sub-continent, a question mark is surely to be raised.
Lets take a look at the statistics of Dhawan’s batting all over the world:
In Indian sub-continent:
|
Matches |
Runs |
Highest |
Average |
100/50 |
|
4 |
416 |
187 |
104.00 |
2/0 |
In England:
|
Matches |
Runs |
Highest |
Average |
100/50 |
|
3 |
122 |
37 |
20.33 |
0/0 |
In Australia and New Zealand:
|
Matches |
Runs |
Highest |
Average |
100/50 |
|
5 |
382 |
115 |
38.22 |
1/0 |
In South Africa:
|
Matches |
Runs |
Highest |
Average |
100/50 |
|
2 |
76 |
29 |
19.00 |
0/0 |
We clearly see that Dhawan’s batting average in Indian sub-continent, where the pitches favour the Indian batsman is 104, which is simply outstanding.
But his next best batting average outside the sub-continent drops to 38.22 in Australia and New Zealand.In England its 20.33 and in South Africa its mere 19!
So we can come to a conclusion that in flat tracks, where the ball does not show any movement, favours spin and lack pace and bounce, Shikar Dhawan simply loves to score loads of runs.
When it comes to faster, bouncy and seaming wickets, where Dale Steyns, Mitchell Jhonsons and Stuart Broads show their true worth, he is unable to keep up the same performance as above.
Although its too early to make any judgements as Shikar has been playing Tests for only 2 year and is 14 Tests old, but one thing is evident that he needs to show his batting skills not only in sub continent pitches but also outside also.
Then only we can call him a “great” Indian batsman who can play in any pitch against and take on any kind of bowling attack!