Himachal Pradesh would be ecstatic after they qualified to the quarters of Vijay Hazare Trophy. Adding to the festivity would be the news that their favourite son Rishi Dhawan was selected to represent team India.
Incidentally, on the day he got selected, he also scored his maiden List A century against Madhya Pradesh that helped the team to qualify. He has been the face of Himachal Pradesh cricket in the recent years. He has toiled hard against all the opposition teams and has given his 100 percent every time. But the much-anticipated call was evading Dhawan for some time.
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“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door”
-Milton Berle
Every cricketer dreams of the day when he could play for India and for this lad from the hills, nothing was granted. He had to constantly face the grinds of domestic cricket since the day he made his debut against Tamil Nadu on Nov 24, 2009.
Since then he has been consistent with both bat and ball in all formats of the game. He was the highest wicket-taker in the 2013/14 Ranji Trophy season and was awarded the Madhavrao Scindia Award by BCCI for being the highest wicket-taker of India’s premier domestic tournament.
All-round consistency key to Dhawan's rise
He bowls in the mid 130s and swings the ball both ways and is pretty accurate with his line and length. Altogether he has taken 220 wickets from 51 Ranji Trophy matches at an average just above 25 and 70 wickets from 53 List A matches.
His more than steady and capable batting fetched him 2165 runs in Ranji Trophy at an average close to 41 and in List A, he scored 1070 runs at an average around 40. These numbers are really envying for any cricketer.
His solid performances in the domestic circuit made him an instant hit in the 2014 IPL auction. He was bought by Kings XI Punjab for a whopping sum of INR 3 crore after being surprisingly released by Mumbai Indians.
Dhawan performed fairly well in the competition, proving justice to the amount that was spent on him. He picked up 13 wickets in that season and more importantly was able to impress one and all with his composed nature and near perfect all-round skills.
He got chances to represent India A soon after and he did not disappoint the selectors. One of his best innings ever with the bat was against Australia in the quadrangular series finals where he scored a responsible and fluent 57 in a tricky situation to take his team to the title.
Despite these spectacular numbers everywhere, there have been fingers pointed against him, saying that he took wickets against weaker teams of group C in Ranji Trophy. But the fact is that no wickets were granted for free, they had to be earned.
The Road Ahead
Every time, if there is a ball in his hands, he gives his best shot; he doesn't get satisfied with 1 or 2 wickets. 27 times he has got more than four wickets in an innings of Ranji Trophy which shows his hunger for wickets.
Now being a part of the national squad, he must try to perform to his maximum potential in whatever opportunity he gets. After his vehement persuasion and toil, it's very important for the youngster to grab this chance with both his hands.
We can only hope he learns the tricks of the trade under the watchful eyes of Ravi Shastri and Bharath Arun and performs splendidly well to end India’s quest for a seam-bowling all-rounder.
For this lad has taught us that, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies!
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