Shikhar Dhawan excited about homecoming at Delhi Capitals: The opening batsman talked about returning to his home team in the IPL.
India opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan has expressed his excitement regarding a ‘homecoming’ in the 12th season of the Indian Premier League. After being swapped for three players before the IPL auction, he will play for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2019.
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Having started his IPL career at Delhi (then Daredevils), Dhawan will return to his home team after 11 years. After a one-year stint with Delhi, Dhawan represented Mumbai Indians for a couple of years. The southpaw then played for Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad for eight seasons.
In a recent interview with The Times of India, Dhawan laid emphasis on his know-how of the Feroz Shah Kotla pitches and ground having it in it to come good for him in IPL 2019.
“It’s a homecoming for me”
“Ghar wapasi ho gayi hai ji meri (It is a homecoming for me). This is where I grew up. So, it’s good to come back. On the cricket front, it’s good that I will be playing half my games at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground and I have played there for so many years that I know the ground and the pitches there,” Dhawan was quoted as saying.
Back in 2008, Dhawan was another of those talented opening batsmen. Having represented India across formats now, he brings with him a substantial amount of experience.
“I’m adjusting well to it actually. I’m bringing 11 years of experience. I was a rookie back then. learnt lots of stuff from all the senior players- AB de Villiers, Viru bhai [Virender Sehwag], Gauti bhai [Gautam Gambhir], [Glenn] McGrath, Daniel Vettori. I remember all of them,” Dhawan said while recollecting his maiden IPL season.
“Outscoring Kumar Sangakkara gave me confidence”
In another recent interview with CricketNext, Dhawan reflected back on playing with some of the greats of the game in the IPL and how scoring more runs than Kumar Sangakkara gave him confidence.
“The first year I played for Delhi franchise, I shared the dressing room with them and it was a really big deal for me. Just spending time with them was great and that increased my confidence level.
“When I joined Mumbai Indians, I got the chance to open with Sachin bhaji [Tendulkar]. Even with Deccan Chargers, I played with [Kumar] Sangakkara and when I scored more runs than him, step by step it gave me confidence,” Dhawan said.
