Wednesday, December 11, 2024
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New Zealand tour a learning curve for young Indian team: Dhawan

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Wellington: India’s opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan said the current Test squad will only get better as they gain in experience, adding that the New Zealand tour has been another learning curve.

The visitors will take on the Kiwis in the second and final Test starting here on Friday after losing the opener in Auckland by 40 runs.

“We have been doing well as a team, but unfortunately we end up on the losing side,” Dhawan told reporters at the pre-match press conference on Thursday that captain MS Dhoni skipped.

“It is a new team, young players who have got only five-six matches under their belt.

“It takes a bit of time to settle down. The last Test we played, we fought back really nicely and even in the last innings, we batted really well. There are a lot of positives to take from the defeat and it helped in building our confidence.”

The loss at Auckland had much to do with the batting failure in the first innings, wherein the team was bowled out for 202 runs after conceding 503 to New Zealand.

Dhawan exuded confidence that Team India would come back strongly in Wellington to salvage some lost pride on a thoroughly disappointing tour.

“It is very sad to lose a match, and especially so close, we lost by just 40 runs. But we took positives from that game. Yes, we were disappointed for a bit, but then we overcame those things. There is always a new day. So, we started working hard again and focused on the positive things,” asserted Dhawan.

The batsman claimed that he had not seen the Basin Reserve wicket and was told it is a green-top.

“I will play according to how the pitch is. In the previous match, we bowled them out for 100-odd (in the second innings). We have got very good fast bowlers who can repeat that same thing to get them out again on a low score. It is possible. The most important thing is to keep our basics strong in both batting and bowling,” he said.

One of the reasons that India were able to get close to the 407-run target was Dhawan’s second Test century.

It followed a pretty ordinary show with the bat from the opener, wherein during his poor run, he was also dropped from the ODI team ahead of a must-win encounter at Hamilton.

“Getting that rest was vital for me, because I was away from match-pressure and could think about my game, and what mistakes I was making. Afterwards I was very calm during the knock and just thought to play as straight as possible.

“The wickets here can be double-paced, especially with the short balls and all this stuff. I planned to play straight and just enjoy being at the wicket and enjoy my time over there,” he said. (PTI)

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