Dhawan hopes Sunrisers can repeat last season's form

Shikhar Dhawan, ahead of IPL 10, speaks about Sunrisers Hyderabad's confidence, batting with his skipper David Warner, playing alongside Afghan players among other things.

Published : Apr 03, 2017 16:34 IST , Hyderabad

"The team is really confident of winning the championship again. We are preparing well," said Shikhar Dhawan.
"The team is really confident of winning the championship again. We are preparing well," said Shikhar Dhawan.
lightbox-info

"The team is really confident of winning the championship again. We are preparing well," said Shikhar Dhawan.

Shikhar Dhawan said that he always looks to perform well, at any level, when presented with the opportunity and the 10 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), starting from April 5 here, will be no different.

“Especially, when you are out of Indian team, it is important to keep scoring consistently in domestic cricket and I am glad to come into this IPL with a century and doing well in the recent Deodhar Trophy in Vizag (Visakhapatnam) where the conditions were really hot,” Dhawan said in an interaction here on Monday.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener said he and his captain David Warner complement each other and that it will be great if they repeat their last season’s form, which helped the team win the championship.

“The team is really confident of winning the championship again. We are preparing well. Again for any team to win the title, the key is to get the flow going which we can achieve by stringing together a couple of big wins very early,” the 31-year-old Dhawan explained.

"If you look at the last season, David was the aggressor even though I too enjoyed hitting the ball a lot. Again, if I score 10 runs in an over, I prefer to hold one end up and step up the pace when the situation merits,” he pointed out.

“The opening game is important and it will be great to get the momentum going with a big win in front of home crowds,” Dhawan felt about the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) here.

“I don’t think it is fair to underestimate RCB without the injured Virat (Kohli) who is no doubt a big player. But, again it is a team game and they have quite a few big guns like (AB) de Villiers, (Shane) Watson, who can be a threat to any team,” he said.

“Fortunately, we have no injury worries and our bench strength is really strong which I feel is a great thing,” Dhawan remarked.

“Well, the presence of Afghan cricketers (Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan in the SRH) is good for the game itself. Their emergence shows Afghanistan can produce players for the big leagues. Heard a lot that many could not read leggie Rashid and that should be a big advantage for us,” he explained.

“I enjoy the company of foreign players in the team. That is the beauty of the game, you play against them and in another event you team with the same. Off the field we have very good relationships,” Dhawan said to a query.

About his goals for this IPL, Dhawan said, “Play well to help the team win. Pick a few more man of the match awards .”

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment