Shikhar Dhawan Exactly twelve years ago, I was watching our club (Delhi Blues CC) playing Sonnet Cricket Club at Mohan Meakins Ground at Mohan Nagar Ghaziabad. Both our teams were evenly matched, with our pace battery holding a slight edge. Shikhar as an 16 year old was batting beautifully, but was being heckled by the in fielders, and was getting very restive. After scoring a brisk 28, he got out to a skier while hooking, and while returning to the pavilion, he got even more upset by the bitter send -off that he received from a youngster from our team. Shikhar lost his cool and ran after the fielder with his bat. The umpires intervened and Shikhar came back to the pavilion, where I was also sitting. In Delhi, we have great club-rivalries on field, but great friendship off field. When Shikhar came back, and threw his bat, gloves and other gear in his dressing room and came out, I made him sit alongside. Since I knew his seniors and his coaches, he seemed ok with listening to a man even from the opposite dressing room. I remember having distinctly told him that day… he had it in him, in terms of skill and talent to go all the way, but his temper would probably pull him back from achieving what he should be aiming to achieve. Initially he argued about how he had been provoked and that it really was not his fault, but when I made him understand that, the sudden rush of blood had cost him his wicket, he understood and apologised. After the match got over, I rang up Shikhar’s seniors and told them to take care of this particular precocious talent. To my mind, Shikhar should have achieved stardom 4-5 years back, but for his inconsistent batting. He seemed to throw his wicket after getting set with the result that in the last several years, he has scored only 500+ runs per season with one big knock of 170-180, and the rest small scores, which neither helped the team, nor his own cause. I am extremely pleased to see Shikhar scoring runs consistently and putting a price on his wicket each time he goes out to bat. I only hope that he plays in the same vein and makes up for lost time and continues to give pleasure to the audiences everywhere.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:53:33 +0000
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