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India's star veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the recent times has become a one format player after almost being side-lined from the shortest and longest format. The southpaw has still managed to keep his place in ODI format and continues to be India’s first choice opener with his consistent performances.
Riding on a superb 81-run knock, the 36-year-old stitched an unbeaten 192-run partnership with his opening partner Shubman Gill to propel India to an emphatic 10-wicket victory which proves Dhawan is still an indispensable asset for India in ODIs.
Meanwhile, talking about Dhawan's performance in the match, former India cricket Ajay Jadeja said the left-handed batter is doing exactly what Sachin Tendulkar did when young players like Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni came into the side.
"There will always be a period where you are re-energised and you've got to change your game because the next generation is always quicker, faster, smarter. And they always push you. A good example is going back to Sachin Tendulkar. Think of him when Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, and all these guys came in. He did exactly the same thing in his career. He had to reinvent himself, changed the pace at which he was playing the game to keep up with the younger lot," Jadeja said after the match.
"You've got to catch up. Sometimes as a senior player you tend to take it easy, you've been around for so long... You stagnate at a certain place. But when that next generation comes, it starts pushing you. The first time was when Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly came in and the next change was when Yuvraj, Sehwag, and Dhoni came in. And you can see the same with Shikhar," he added.
The star India southpaw is currently the most run-scorer in ODIs for India in the year 2022 with 469 runs. He clobbered an unbeaten 81 runs in the first ODI against Zimbabwe to bring his 38th ODI fifty and third in the last four innings. Earlier, Dhawan had scored 97 and 58 runs in two ODIs against West Indies and ended up sealing the series.
