ESPNcricinfo Awards 2013 Test batting winner: Shikhar takes the stage
Shikhar Dhawan
187 vs Australia, third Test, Mohali
Before reprising Shikhar Dhawan's 187, let's look at what brought him to Mohali and that perfect day. An innings of incandescence was crafted out of more than Dhawan's wagon-wheely repertoire of strokes that day. It also belonged to his seasons in the shadows and a first-class career of not much distinction.
Everyone inside Indian cricket knew enough about Dhawan. He had been around for so long that he had steadily moved towards becoming a "domestic veteran", that nebulous category somewhere between nobility and furniture. The wild-child moments that had marked his teenage kept cropping up as he grew older. To average in the low-to-mid-40s for most of his first-class career became, in many ways, Dhawan's calling card. It led to a blurring of the progress he had made in his last two seasons.
It was during those two seasons that Dhawan found the discipline and consistency required to remain noticed through domestic cricket: in 18 first-class matches in India before his Test debut, he scored six centuries and five fifties; he averaged 63.90 in 2012-13.
Yet even when he was picked for the Test team, Dhawan's back story was always going to be that of the junior World Cup star left behind by his peers. He was out for a duck on ODI debut in October 2010, and managed only 69 in four ODIs in the West Indies after the 2011 World Cup. The player of the tournament in the Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka 2004 had been overtaken in Tests, ODIs and T20Is by Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and RP Singh, to name a few.
Dhawan came around on the selectoral conveyor belt again, because India needed an emphatic victory over the touring Australians to recover from their home series defeat to England about three months before. Australia trailed 0-2 in a four-Test series going into Mohali. "Selective watering" and spinners' lovelies had worked in Chennai and Hyderabad, but India's openers had scored 11, 16 and 17 in three innings.
Despite the Homeworkgate disarray, and the loss of an entire day's play to rain, Australia had scored 408 in their first innings. Their last three wickets had put up 157, after their lower-middle order caved in the space of five overs. On a grassless Mohali pitch, 400 was not monumental, but it was on the more flattering side of modest.
It was here that Dhawan turned up, as a replacement not merely for another Delhi opener but for the greatest and most influential one the city had produced - Virender Sehwag. Had he taken his time to find his feet in some very distinctively shaped boots, people would have understood. Instead, Mr Moustache, Rat-Tail hairdo and Tattoo Riot made an entrance that would have had Bollywood star children burning with envy.
He stepped out on stage and burnt up the floor.
The plot, though, began with a little twist. India came in to bat just before lunch on the third morning for a single over, and Dhawan, the non-striker, wandered out of his crease and got himself Mankaded when the ball slipped out of Mitchell Starc's hand as he ran in to bowl, and hit the stumps with Dhawan well short of his ground. Australia captain Michael Clarke made a few humorous third-umpire signals, but had the Australians really appealed, there is no knowing how the umpires would have interpreted the Mankading law.
There is no knowing whether the incident and the lunch break that followed focused Dhawan's mind. What is certain, though, is that when he returned, he batted like a left-handed version of undiluted intent. The significance of the occasion was dramatically dwarfed by the fundamental lesson of batsmanship: see the ball, hit the ball. Viru would have approved.
It produced the fastest Test century by a debutant (off 85 balls), and the highest score by an Indian Test debutant (beating GR Viswanath's 137 against Australia in Kanpur, in 1969). Other than a crazy single he took to get from 99 to 100, Dhawan's innings was about ownership and belonging. He owned Mohali, owned the bowling, and hammered home the message that he belonged in an Indian Test XI.
For a player best known for his creamy cover drives and showman's love for stepping out and slicing into lengths, the pace of Dhawan's innings belonged to pure calculus. He attacked, but until he reached his century did so in the old-fashioned way: along the ground, using eyes, hands, feet and timing to drill his way through gaps and to speed past fielders who believed they had the angles covered. It was low-risk execution in high-quality strokeplay, with the percentages on his side.
Australia had good reason to attack, with a total of 400 plus behind them; it was the speed of Dhawan's innings and the velocity of his shot-making that led to their dismantling. In a little over an hour of the second session of play, Dhawan had made 50 off 50 balls, his aggression bursting over Australian purpose like a torrential downpour.
On the front foot, Dhawan was assured, his bat carving up large wodges of a packed off-side field like a giant cake being devoured in public. When it was pitched short by the quick bowlers, either to his hips or his ribs, he was quick to play the pull all through the leg-side arc. He sized up the pace off the wicket and even reeled a few off his front foot. The spinners came on as early as the tenth over and Nathan Lyon, Xavier Doherty and Steve Smith were turned into fossil fuel. He used his feet, opened the face of the bat, paddled, reverse-paddled, cut, drove, inside out, on the up.
Dhawan's second fifty came in 35 balls, and it took him 12 balls to go from 61 to 91. Xavier Doherty, hit for 18 off an over, returning only 20 overs later. The moment of madness came on 99, when Dhawan dive-crashed into his crease to complete a single and was rewarded with five overthrows.
After his century - 84 runs scored in boundaries - he opted for a more adventurous gear, choosing to loft the ball, landing the spinners into the stands, this time well aware of when to set the wild child free. After a little over two hours, his muscle memory had grooved into smooth judgement and movement.
What will always be called Dhawan's Day ended with India at 283 for no loss, scoring at close to five an over. Australia's total of 400 had shrunk in a two-session fireworks display. It was a large-hearted innings at a masterful tempo and it took India to a position from where they could control the remaining two days of the Test and win the series. He would only score two more runs on day four, but the impact of his innings would have a ripple effect.
Dhawan may play many better innings in far tougher situations and against superior opposition, but the 187 will always be his signature innings, the one that switched his calling card for good. It will always remain for Shikhar Dhawan a cricketing twirl of his unmistakeable moustache.
wow!!! mominul stats are impressive!!!
What a funny decision it is :D
Mominul Haque ( Bangladesh )
Test Batting Averages
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St 7 13 3 755 181 75.50 1236 61.08 3 3 94 0 4 0
why not mominul? whats the reason?
Mominul Hauqe (age 22) Team Bangladesh Test Played 7, Avg- 75.50, Total Run- 755, 3-100s and 3-50s
Shikhar Dhawan (age 28) Team India Test Played 7, Avg- 48, Total Run- 534, 2-100s and 1-50s..
Icc Best Test Debut Player 2013 Shikhar Dhawan....
Claaap claaap claaaaap!!!!
People slamming the award for Dhawan may have not watched that blistering knock. There were no such knocks in living memory. It was so good. Although the Aussie attack was only honest at best, considering the match situation and the fact that it was his debut test, Dhawan lit up Mohali like no other. Very deserving award. People citing his failures against RSA should realize that every player has his ups and downs. Didn't Kallis fail in UAE? The Aussies as a whole flopped in India. England were miserable in Australia. Form is termporary, class is permanent. Dhawan showed that with his knocks in NZL. Wait till he tears attacks apart this year. Anderson, Broad, and co will be trembling at the prospect of having to bowl to him over 5 tests this summer. And I am confident that he will do well against the Oz attack later this year too.
Dhawan winning test batting award. Seriously, he failed miserably in SA and all he had to show against AUS is one test match that also in India. Of course he made century in fourth innings in NZ but India didn't win that match, India also didn't manage to draw that test. Pujara-Kohli were lot better than Dhawan in the same period what exactly was impressive about Dhawan?
Faffs debut against Australia, was a million times more challenging and skillful. These judges need to take into consideration factors in the game. Faff had to bat for 2 days with Ozzies hounding him. Dharwan had no pressure. It seems the nationality of your passport helps you win votes.
Congrats. He deserves it. Good choice.
@Shoumen Siddique, nope, get YOUR facts right. This is about 2013, not 14. Maybe I would say FaF or ABD, but the McCullum one was off by a year. :)
Fauf or McCullum should have got this for match-saving knocks. Or Warner or Steve Smith for away hundreds against the best pace-bowling attack in the world.
Yes Dhawan is improving and learning fast but this is not acceptable. Maybe the best innings by a debutant was OK.
From India, with truth not love :)
Mominul Haque bangladesh Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 7 13 3 755 181 75.50 1236 61.08 3 3 http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/373696.html so why Shikhar Dhawan ????
@pull_shot : Get your facts right mate...Dhawan scored 1 hundred and a 98 in 4 Test matches ( 2 against SA& 2 against NZ). And we are talking about matches where triple and double centuries are being scored. I seriously thought Brendon's Triple was going to be the winner..hands down: Team in deep trouble, seaming wicket...But they gave it to a 180 odd innings by Dhawan on undoubtedly the flattest of cricket pitches in the world. Just shows how biased these awards are.
After his innings in NZ, SD cannot be called a"home track bully". He is certainly more than that. Let us celebrate his award without much ire. He deserves it as good as anybody else during the period.
@Naveed Khan what happened to dhawan in saf and nz ? for ur information he scored 1 hundred and 98 in 2 test matches
This is a very poor choice for the award. While it was on debut, India were dominating the series. Dhawan was run out without facing a ball but the honourable Australians let him keep batting. It didn't make a difference to the match and especially didn't make a difference to the series. In comparison, Darren Bravo for West Indies scored a higher score and in a match that made a much bigger difference, saving the match for West Indies, in a match that they were otherwise going to lose badly. There is no comparison. Bravo's efforts were a million miles better than Dhawan's cheap home ground efforts in an easy situation. This was a very poor choice for best performance for 2013. In my list, I had this as 4th best.
Not more than home ground bully. Could not save from 3 consecutive fail tours.
So, McCullum's grueling 300 to save the series not good enough huh?
I was kind of disappointed that Chris Rogers's century in the 4th test in Durham was not even given a mention. Sure it was in a losing cause but it was in quite testing English conditions against quality bowlers! But well Dhawan's performance is worthy of being performance of the year!
I'm guessing these awards are for 2013 and so Brendon McCullum innings of 305 against India when his team were 90 odd for 5, in the 2nd innings and miles behind and facing certain defeat won't be up for an award until next year. I'm hoping this is the case and it wasn't simply that Brendan McCullum isn't Indian or Australian.
Australia were a demoralized team by this point after they lost half their squad for not doing their homework. How was this the best innings of the year? It wasn't even the best of the series given Dhoni's double in the first test let alone brilliant rear-guard knocks from Faf, Prior and Bravo. Other than Afridi and Mitch this may has well just been India's cricket awards.
My vote would have been for Faf
Indian Batsmen playing in India should not be considered for such awards. It is too easy for them. Look at Dhawan what has happened to him in South Africa and New Zealand.
what about Smith's 234 against Pakistan????????
Prior and Darren Bravo did some magnificent innings against NZ in a draw. But of course, one must realize that if you don't play against Aus/Eng/India (Big 3), it doesn't count as much..... Dhawan batting fast on a flat track in which most batsman did well in the beginning? You have to be kidding me. Even Virat Kohli's effort in SA (against the likes of Steyn, Morkel, Philander) was a lot better.
@Vimalan Have you ever checked Mominul Haque's batting "performance" of the year of 2013? If not then Would you please check it out? In 2013 he played 5test matches and from those total was 584 runs (2X100; 2X50). What else Cricinfo needs from Mominul? isn't fair enough???
@Morsalin please note that this award is the test batting "performance" of the year and not test batting "performer" of the year. note the difference
Dhawan should continue his good form..keep rocking
Well, obviously Dhawan played good cricket in recent past and he hold a great record so far which in his debut match 187. And he played 7 matches, 534 runs with average 48.54 (2X100, 1X50). So, its great performance by him. Just i would like to hear from Sharda Urga that have you ever thought about others who played excellent cricket recently? Such as Mominul Haque from Bangladesh he played also 7 matches, 755 runs with average 75.50 (3X100, 3X50). My question is If Dhawan gets Test Batting award by performing this then how you gonna give award to Mominul Haque???!!