IPL: Enjoy wearing the Orange Cap, says DC star Shikhar Dhawan after dominating SRH
Shikhar Dhawan appeared to have put behind him the disappointment of missing out on a place in the T20 World Cup in the Indian team as he came out of all guns blazing for the Delhi Capitals in their 8-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 33rd IPL 2021 match on Wednesday.
Shikhar Dhawan continued from where he left in the first leg of IPL 2021 as he dominated the SRH bowlers with ease on a difficult pitch where SRH huffed and puffed to 134 for 9 in 20 overs. Dhawan was hitting boundaries at will, sweeping and driving the fast bowlers to give DC a solid start in their chase after they lost Prithvi Shaw early.
Dhawan hit a six and 6 boundaries as he put up 42 from just 37 balls to go regain the Organe Cap for the most runs scored in the season from Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul. During the course of his match-winning knock, Dhawan also went past 400 runs, becoming only the 3rd batter after Suresh Raina and David Warner to do so in at least 6 successive seasons.
“I’m enjoying wearing the cap, I’m enjoying the way I’m timing the ball. Not very true, this surface, it stopped a bit, and we had to plan the game according to the wicket. So it was good to go out there and secure a win,” Dhawan said.
I wanted to be an impactful player: Dhawan
Dhawan is unfortunate to miss out on a spot in India’s World Cup squad as he has been one of the most consistent batters in the IPL over the years. While his scoring rate was under the scanner a couple of seasons ago, Dhawan has made a conscious effort to get that going upwards. Dhawan has scored 422 runs at an average of over 50 in IPL 2021, striking at over 130.
“I consciously made an effort to increase the tempo and strike-rate, because I wanted to be an impactful player for my side. It was just about the execution. Rabada and Nortje are our gun bowlers.
“Absolutely enjoying being at the top of the table,” he added.
With Shreyas Iyer hitting 47 not out on his return to the IPL after the injury lay-off and Rishabh Pant giving the finishing touches with a quickfire 35 not out, DC gunned down the target in just 17.5 overs vs SRH. The 8-wicket win took them to the top of the points table as they are sitting pretty with 7 wins from 9 matches.
