In Stats: How Dhawan Continues to Have Virat’s Back in ODIs

Shikhar Dhawan celebrated the occasion of his 100th ODI by scoring a century against South Africa.

Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan during India’s fourth ODI against South Africa.

(Photo: BCCI)

Shikhar Dhawan celebrated the occasion of his 100th ODI by scoring a century in the 4th ODI against South Africa. Dhawan’s 109 at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday – his 13th hundred in the 50-over format – was the pillar on which India built their innings of 289-7 after opting to bat first.

After rain intervened in the contest, South Africa were left chasing 202 from 28 overs, a target they passed with 15 balls to spare to stay alive in the six-match series.

Dhawan Celebrates Special Occasion With Ton

Dhawan has been amongst the runs in this series – though he has been held guilty of not converting the starts to big scores. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, 10 February, as the left-hander once again got off to a good start, but importantly converted the runs to a hundred.

Dhawan, by virtue of his performance, became the first Indian batsman to score a century in his 100th ODI. He joined a list of 8 other cricketers who had accomplished this feat earlier: Gordon Greenidge, Chris Cairns, Mohammad Yousuf, Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Gayle, Marcus Trescothick, Ramnaresh Sarwan and David Warner.

Dhawan has been a consistent run-getter for India in the 50-over format – no matter who the opponent or what the conditions – but seldom gets the recognition he deserves.

Particularly in the time that Virat Kohli has led the Indian team, no other batsman – other than the captain himself – has scored more runs in the format than Dhawan.

In the 37 ODIs Dhawan has played under Kohli as captain, he averages 53 (against a career average of 46.33) and has been the team’s top run-getter in nearly a third of the matches, one match fewer than captain Kohli.

Perseverance Pays Off for Dhawan

Saturday’s innings of 109 will definitely not feature among Shikhar Dhawan’s finest knocks; if he considers it as one of his better knocks, it will be only because he had to work hard for his runs and derived plenty of satisfaction because of the fruition of the effort.

South Africa’s four frontline pacers consistently bowled at speeds in excess of 140kph and landed the ball in the awkward back-of-a-length area which has troubled Dhawan in the past. The left-hander was beaten on several occasions, and the ball came off the edge of his willow on several other occasions. But Dhawan persevered, rode those tough phases of play and scored a satisfying ton.

Contrasting Knocks by Dhawan, Virat

For a period of about 27 overs – when Virat Kohli and Dhawan were involved in a partnership that helped put India’s innings back on the rails after the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma – it appeared that the Men in Blue were in control of proceedings in the centre.

But that was more a mirage, because of the manner in which the Indian captain batted; while Dhawan struggled to find the middle of the bat, Virat Kohli middled almost everything and made batting look easy at the other end. Some of the strokes Kohli played – the lofted drives down the ground off the quicks – gave the feeling he was toying with the bowlers. The control factor for the two batsmen – during the course of their partnership – illustrates the point best; while Kohli’s control factor was close to 90%, Dhawan’s corresponding number was 74%.

Until Dhawan and Kohli were batting together, it appeared India were headed for a total in excess of 300, and possibly closer to 325. But that was not to be as the Indian team lost momentum following the dismissals of both the well-set batsmen in quick succession. 206-3 when Dhawan was dismissed in the 36th over, India could only add a further 83 runs – losing 4 more wickets in the process – in the remaining 14.3 overs. The batsmen who batted in the middle order were guilty of batting out several dot deliveries; in the final ten overs, the Indian batsmen failed to score off as many as 26 deliveries.