If he's feeling the pressure, Dhawan is surely not showing it. His cameo in his first Indian Premier League game against Kolkata Knight Riders is proof of it
Shikhar Dhawan has big shoes to fillu00a0-- 110 Tests, 6973 runs, 14 hundreds; 444 ODIs, 13428 runs, 28 hundreds. It's the international record of Sanath Jayasuriya, whose spot Dhawan has taken in the Mumbai Indians.
If he's feeling the pressure, Dhawan is surely not showing it. His cameo in his first Indian Premier League game against Kolkata Knight Riders is proof of it. Dhawan hit 23 off 21 balls and shared a 61-run opening stand in 6.5 overs with his skipper Sachin Tendulkar.
"I am not looking at it as if I have replaced Jayasuriya. It's just that I am a specialist opener or I can bat at No 3. The team management felt it is the right balance and I am just concentrating at carrying out my responsibility," said Dhawan, who plays for Delhi in domestic cricket MI coach Robin Singh said Jayasuriya had not been able to quite carry out the role assigned to him.
"We want him to play explosive cricket but if he is not fulfilling that role then I don't think he is doing his job. We want to maximise his ability to hit the ball," said Robin.
The MI coach added that it was too early to write off Jayasuriya. "We need to give him a little time. He's just walked into this tournament," said Robin.
Except for Jayasuriya's poor start, everything else seems to be going well for MI. They have made a strong start and look the team to beat. "We have worked very hard in the camps all year round. The seniors have been very encouraging and all our departments are clicking, that's the key to our performance," said Dhawan.
