Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle came out in support of a Twitter user who questioned Bhogle’s opinion on India’s interim skipper and long-time opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Following India’s victory in the first and second ODI against West Indies, thus clinching the 3-ODI series with a game to go, Bhogle tweeted in praise for a number of Indian players who have played a crucial role in the victories in these two matches.
“In close games, Siraj and Axar have delivered wins; Samson and Hooda have played good hands in unfamiliar roles; Shreyas is making himself difficult to leave out; Gill has made a case. And Shikhar just owns this format,” Bhogle had tweeted.
Fan trolls Dhawan; gets a perfect reply by Harsha Bhogle
Both the ODIs were won in the last over – by 3 runs and then by 2 wickets with 2 balls to spare – with the aforementioned players playing a significant role with bat and ball and giving the Men In Blue the major positives from the series so far.
One Twitter user, however, didn’t really appreciate Bhogle championing Shikhar Dhawan as a successful ODI batsman by pointing out his knock from the second ODI where the left-hander scored 13 runs in 31 balls in the run-chase of 312.
“Team needed 312 from 300 Dhawan scored 31 ball 13 Owns the format,” who this user with Twitter id @KedarHirve.
Harsha Bhogle gave him a fitting reply – not by mocking or trolling back, but just by stating an outright fact that Dhawan had played a match-winning innings as recently as in the first ODI itself.
“Don’t be so hard Kedar. 97(99) in game 1,” was Bhogle’s gem of a reply.
Here, check out Harsha Bhogle’s superb reply:
Don’t be so hard Kedar. 97(99) in game 1.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 25, 2022
Speaking more about Shikhar Dhawan, it seems that the left-hander is quite underrated – majorly because he plays only the ODI format for India and the side hasn’t played 50-over cricket regularly in the past couple of years because of the focus on the other two formats.
Dhawan, though, is one of India’s best ODI batters in recent years: since the end of the 2019 World Cup, Dhawan is India’s second-highest run-scorer in ODIs, only behind Virat Kohli; and only KL Rahul (54 average) has a better ODI average in this period than Dhawan’s 47 among India’s proper batsmen.
After India’s series win on Sunday, Dhawan was effusive in praise for the complete team performance.
“It was a great team performance. Boys didn’t lose the self belief, that is amazing. Iyer, Sanju, Axar everyone was amazing, Even Avesh came out in his debut game and scored those 11 important runs. Thanks to IPL, they perform on a huge stage,” the stand-in India skipper said after the match.
“I felt that we bowled nicely. They got off to a good start. Hope and Pooran batted well. We thought if they could do it, we knew that we could do it. We started a little slow. Shubman batted well. The Iyer-Samson partnership made a huge difference. There was a run-out. But these things happen. Boys are learning. Thanks to the support staff as well. They have been doing a tremendous job.”
The third ODI, a dead rubber, is slated for Wednesday at the same venue.
