Shikhar Dhawan is relishing the challenges that face opening batsmen under the testing conditions imposed by the latest one-day international laws, having scored his third century in two months to see India to a 58-run victory over Zimbabwe on Friday.
Dhawan enjoyed more than his fair share of luck as India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, surviving two dropped catches as well as a catch off a no-ball on his way to 116 — his highest one-day score.
However opening batsmen such as Dhawan would argue that they deserve some fortune under the current laws, with the use of two new balls in one-day internationals tilting the balance back towards the bowlers.
“It’s more difficult nowadays because you’ve got new balls from both ends,” Dhawan said. “When the ball is swinging you really need to play close to your body.
“You’ll see that in the first 10 overs, openers are not scoring that many nowadays because the ball is new and it swings a lot and you have to be more careful.”
Despite gifting Dhawan three lives, Zimbabwe still made inroads into the Indian batting line-up as they reduced the tourists to 65/4, only for Dhawan to put on a 167-run stand with Dinesh Karthik.