Dhawan’s return to form was important ahead of Australia tour: Rohit

Chennai: India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said it was important for Shikhar Dhawan to return to form ahead of the crucial tour of Australia, which would be a completely “different ball game”.

Dhawan, who struggled throughout the preceding ODI series against the West Indies, returned to form with a smashing 92 off 62 balls to help India beat the visitors by six wickets in the final T20 and complete a 3-0 series sweep.

Dhawan and young Rishabh Pant (53 off 25) stitched 130 runs off 80 balls for the third wicket on Sunday to lay the foundation for the win after India were in a spot of bother at 45 for 2 while chasing 182.

“It was important from the team’s perspective and for the players to get some runs ahead of the important Australia tour. Shikhar especially was batting well in the ODI series but he was not able to get big scores. I am glad that he could play a match-winning knock and get some form under his belt before the crucial tour,” Rohit said.

“Rishabh was also hungry to go out and get some runs. It was the perfect situation. We were two down inside the first six overs. There was a bit of pressure as well.

They handled it well and it was a match-winning partnership. It is important in the team’s perspective that both these guys got runs,” he said.

India’s tour of Australia starts with the three-match T20 series at Brisbane on November 21.

Rohit said the upcoming tour of Australia would be a completely “different ball game” and India must take confidence from the 3-0 win.

“It is always challenging when it comes to going out there and performing. Every time you go there, you are tested as a player, as an individual and as a team.

Australia will be a different ball game,” he said.

“When you win a series like this, you are high on confidence and it is all about taking that confidence there. We have to keep repeating the performances. It is a never-ending story,” added Rohit.

He said the team had ticked quite a few boxes during the just-concluded series and fielding was one of them.

“We ticked a lot of boxes. Particularly, I am happy how we fielded. I think we fielded really well in the tournament. In batting and bowling, there will be mistakes and there will be some good performances,” Rohit said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)