Shikhar batted like Bradman in Mohali: Ed Cowan

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Australia opener Ed Cowan today gave a huge compliment to India’s latest batting sensation Shikhar Dhawan by equating his breathtaking effort of 187 on debut to the batting style of legendary Don Bradman.

“He (Dhawan) played like Don Bradman,” Cowan’s reply made it evident as to what kind of impact the innings had on the Australian team. “He played as good as anyone I have seen bat in international cricket. This was his first Test innings and he played every ball on its merit and had little room for error. Every batsman sometimes have their own days and it was his day out there,” Cowan further stated.

The opener however remained non-committal about the availability of skipper Michael Clarke, who is down with back spasms.

“I have just spoken to him. He basically said that best possible medical team is working overtime on his ‘back’. It’s a condition that he has had for a long time. It’s a day-to-day proposition. I don’t know what is the possibility or probability of him playing the Test but he’s (Clarke) is confident. Because he is familiar with it (injury) and deals it with on a daily basis.”

Despite a 0-3 hammering so far and the possibility of a 0-4 defeat, Cowan expectedly harped on the “positives” that has emerged from this tour.

“No doubt, if you look at the result, it has been disappointing but if you look at the bigger picture. It’s been really positive to an extent to get the guys up to speed. The experience of playing in the sub-continent has been a positive and has added to their cricketing knowledge. The juniors would feel that it has added to the knowledge base and they can tap it when they come back in four years’ time.”

Cowan accepted that not scoring big hundreds like the Indians, has been the one of the prime reason for team’s disastrous show in the three Test matches.

“I think the wickets played on beautifully. It is a good batting wickets, if you can get in. The difference has been that their guys have converted the good starts into match-winning knocks while including myself, we have go out in 30’s, 40’s or 80’s. Their players have gone onto score 200’s and 180’s. That’s a part of the cause as guys at our end didn’t go onto score huge.”