Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli
Shikhar Dhawan is truly back! After struggling through the major part of 2019 that almost put his position in the Indian cricket team under scanner, Dhawan recovered strong and continued with his sensational form to score 96 runs, in the second game of the three-match series against Australia at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, unfortunately missing out on what could have been his 18th century in the format.
His form started off with a 52 against Sri Lanka in the third and final game of the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Dhawan then started off the Australia contest with a fighting 74 off 91 deliveries before following it up with a knock of 96 off 90 deliveries.
Unlike his previous two innings, Dhawan started off on a much positive note, as he got off the mark with a boundary against Mitchell Starc before bullying the half-volley from Pat Cummins through extra cover. He kept the boundaries adding regularly to his tally while keeping his strike rate round about 100 before scoring his 29th ODI half-century in the 22nd over.
He then took apart Ashton Agar with back-to-back boundaries in consecutive overs before falling to Kane Richardson. He did time the shot sweetly but the ball found Starc at long-on leaving both Virat Kohli and the bowler in disbelief while Dhawan put on a wry smile on his face.
Talking about the game, India got off to a promising start on Friday with an 81-run opening stand before Adam Zampa trapped Rohit Sharma in front of the middle stump. Kohli returned to his old no.3 spot and the pair of Dhawan and the skipper added 100 runs to the board for the second wicket en route to which the pair became the 10th Indian duo to amass 3000 runs.
