India vs England: Sunil Gavaskar slams Shikhar Dhawan for poor showing in Edgbaston

Sunil Gavaskar, who previously hit out at the Indian cricket team management for their preparation for the England tour, has now criticised Shikhar Dhawan’s poor showing in the first Test at Edgbaston.

Gavaskar feels that the southpaw’s lack of success in Tests comes from the fact that he’s not willing to adjust his game for the demands of cricket’s longest format.

“Shikhar simply does not want to change his game. He believes in playing in the same manner which has brought him success till now,” Gavaskar told Aaj Tak.

“You can still get away with such shots in one-day cricket because there aren’t many slips and the push or the edge goes for a boundary through the slip cordon.

“But in Tests, such shots will only result in a fall of wicket. Till a player makes a mental adjustment, he will continue to struggle against the red ball in overseas condition,” he added.

Dhawan scored 26 and 13 in the first and second innings at Edgbaston, respectively. However, it’s worth noting that barring Virat Kohli, none of the other Indian batsmen fared well at Edgbaston.

Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin all performed well with the ball at Edgbaston but the overall failure of the batting unit meant India succumbed to a 31-run defeat in the first Test.

India will next take on England in the second Test starting July 9 at Lord’s.

First Published: Aug 08, 2018 12:23 IST