New Delhi: His technique in seaming conditions has often come under intense scrutiny but Shikhar Dhawan doesn’t have time for doubting Thomases as he gears up for the battle ahead in the ICC World Cup.
Dhawan, one half of world’s most formidable limited overs opening pair, has always performed well in marquee events and is confident that he would be able to replicate his stellar show in familiar conditions like in Champions Trophy in 2013 and 2017. He was also India’s most successful batsman in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“People tell me about my record in ICC events but frankly speaking, the intent has always been the same. It’s not that the effort is less than 100 percent ever. The focus as always is on the process. I am confident that I will have another good ICC tournament,” Dhawan told PTI during an exclusive interview.
The 33-year-old had a modest international season before roaring back to form in the IPL, scoring 521 runs for Delhi Capitals to finish fourth in the top run-getters’ list. So was there any kind of pressure as the World Cup was round the corner, ‘No’ was Dhawan’s emphatic reply. “I am not that sort of a guy who feels the pressure. I have the ability to remain unfazed. And critics? Woh apna kaam kar rahein hain (They are doing their job). If I don’t score runs in 5-10 games, it doesn’t mean that everything is lost. I know what kind of a player I am and what my capabilities are,” said Dhawan, who has 16 ODI hundreds and 5355 runs in 128 ODIs.
“I don’t have time for negativity in my life,” he said. “I am a happy go lucky person. Before I made my Test debut, I had played nearly nine years of first-class cricket. Had I not been passionate and hungry, I couldn’t have performed for India after nine years of domestic cricket. Now I have played six years of international cricket. It has been a great journey,” he said.