Fearless Dhawan threw cautions to the wind: Sidhu

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Former India batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu today heaped praise on Shikhar Dhawan for scoring the fastest Test century on debut and said it was a healthy sign that new brand of cricketers were emerging, which would take Indian cricket to glorious heights.

“This is a sign of new brand of cricketers which is emerging. Cheteshwar Pujara, who is solid as a rock, the other Murali Vijay, who is like a volcano and this guy Dhawan, he is a hurricane. They sure are going to take our cricket to glorious heights,” Sidhu told PTI here.

Sidhu said the sensational knock played by the dashing batsman from Delhi shows the character of the man. “What stood out in this innings was his fearless approach. There was no fear of failure. He threw cautions to the wind. The most important thing is that he created history. When you are on debut in your first match, your legs will shake, there will be butterflies in the tummy. But he played it like a one day game,” he said.

“Where will you see a man score a Test hundred with 23 fours. Where will you see a man who is making his debut score a hundred in one session. It takes four sessions, five sessions to score a hundred. He was in the Ferrari lane, let me tell you,” said Sidhu.

The 49-year-old former cricketer said he was amazed to watch the young brand of Indian cricketers who are fearless and play their natural game.

“It’s amazing to watch this young brand of cricketers, they are fearless, carefree and play their instinctive, natural game. It was amazing to watch Dhawan play like that when you are just making your debut in a Test match, your first match, just goes on to show what attitude you have,” he said.

Known for his Sidhuisms, he also added: “the distance from earth to heaven is not a matter of altitude, it’s a matter of attitude.”

Dhawan, who was handed his Test debut following Virender Sehwag’s axing from the third and fourth test, scored the fastest hundred on debut, reaching the three-digit score off 85 balls with the help of 21 boundaries.