Shikhar has ensured the team does not feel Sehwag's absence: Dhawan's coach

Shikhar Dhawan is soon turning out to Indian cricketrsquos milestone man After smashing his way to a record 187 on his Test debut in March this year the southpaw yesterday achieved another stunning feat smashing 248 off just 150 balls 30 fours amp seven sixes against South Africa lsquoArsquo at LC de Villiers Oval in Pretoria Skipper Cheteshwar Pujara scored 109 as India lsquoArsquo put up a mammoth 433 for three in 50 overs Opening debate Indiarsquos Shikhar Dhawan and inset Virender Sehwag Dhawan who smashed 85 in the last match against the hosts on Friday became the second highest individual scorer in the history of List A games limited overs matches after falling 20 runs short of the record held by former England and Surrey batsman Alistair Brown 268 Dhawanrsquos blitzkrieg finally came to a halt after being caught behind by wicketkeeper Dane Vilas off Rusty Theronrsquos bowling In reply South Africa lsquoArsquo fought hard before falling just 39 runs short of the target Reeza Hendricks 106 and Vaughn van Jaarsveld 108 scored tons as the hosts finished on 394 in 484 overs Ishwar Pandey was the pick of the India bowlers claiming four for 76 off his nine overs Dhawanrsquos first 100 came off only 86 balls while he raced to his second ton in just 46 balls to complete his maiden List A double ton off just 132 balls Dhawan also surpassed the Indian record in a limited overs game of 219 set by Virender Sehwag Dhawan has responded well to the faith reposed in him by the selectors who took the bold decision to drop openers Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir There were fears that India might miss Sehwagrsquos firepower at the top However Dhawanrsquos coach Tarak Sinha reckoned Dhawan he has successfully filled Sehwagrsquos void ldquoIndia need an opener like Shikhar especially since Sehwag is not part of the team now It is too early to consider him to be in the league of Sehwag He still still has a long way to go to be as successful as Sehwag but Shikhar has ensured the team does not feel Sehwagrsquos absence for now at leastrdquo Sinha told MiD DAY yesterdayu00a0Dhawan has hardly put a foot wrong ever since his made a reentry into the Indian team after a gap of three years Apart from his lone Test appearance Dhawan has smashed 707 runs in 14 ODIs including three centuries and two fifties this year He was awarded the Golden Bat and Player of the Tournament in Indiarsquos victorious ICC Champions Trophy campaign in England in Juneu00a0The coach felt Dhawanrsquos knock yesterday was proof that he can play in any conditions ldquoThere were apprehensions that Dhawan can only bat on Indian wickets But by doing well in England Zimbabwe and now South Africa he has shown that his game is suited to all conditionsrdquo he said Sinha felt Dhawanrsquos biggest asset is his positive approach ldquoHe has always learnt to play positively He is an attacking player and backs his game To succeed at the top level you need to be mentally strong which he is Hersquos a very good strokemaker This knock will definitely do a lot of good to his confidence when he arrives for the allimportant series in South Africa later this yearrdquo he signed off Scorecard India lsquoArsquo S Dhawan c Vilas b Theron248 M Vijay c Vilas b Henricks40 CA Pujara not out 109 SK Raina c van der Merwe b Viljoen 6 KD Karthik not out 18 Extras b1 lb2 w9 12 Total 3 wkts 50 overs 433 Fall of wickets 191 2376 3386 Bowlingu00a0GC Viljoen 80941u00a0J Theron 100981u00a0RE van der Merwe 70610u00a0BE Hendricks 90621u00a0DL Piedt 100680u00a0JL Ontong 30150u00a0VB van Jaarsveld 30320 South Africa RR Hendricks b Binny 106 RR Rossouw b Nadeem 43 D Elgar c Pujara b Raina15 VB van Jaarsveld c Raina b Pandey 108 J Ontong c Rasool b Dhawan49 DJ Vilas campb Pandey 2 RE van der Merwe c Dhawan b Pandey 36 J Theron b Unadkat 7 DL Piedt c Nadeem b Unadkat0 GC Viljoen b Pandey 7 BE Hendricks not out 2 Extras b4 lb7 w5 nb3 19 Total all out 484 overs 394 Fall of wickets 1121 2140 3203 4281 5287 6376 7378 8378 9388 10394 Bowling JD Unadkat 840792u00a0IC Pandey 90764u00a0Parvez Rasool 100750u00a0SK Raina 60351u00a0S Nadeem 70521u00a0STR Binny 50421u00a0S Dhawan 30241 u00a0