Mumbai: After enjoying a dream season, Shikhar Dhawan wants to stretch his purple patch to South Africa. The left-handed opening batsman is confident of performing well on bouncy wickets during the upcoming overseas tour.
“I have played there (in SA) for “I have played there (in SA) for India 'A' and performed well, it gives me confidence. I am looking forward to extending that purple patch,“ Dhawan, ooking forward to extending that purple patch,“ Dhawan, who was named the new brand ambassador of an apparel outlet said here on Friday.
“There are bouncy tracks which offer good help both bowlers and batsmen. for both bowlers and batsmen.
Such tracks suit my batting. We all want o do well as we did in England and West ndies,“ he said.
Dhawan feels playing in IPL has made Indian players more confident of facing world-class international bowlers.
“All players benefitted from IPL. All of them played against international bowlers in IPL and are no longer nervous of facing them,“ said Dhawan who is the teammate of South African strike bowler Dale Steyn in Sunrisers Hyderabad and has faced him a lot in the nets.
The Delhi dasher felt it wasn't a major issue in not getting enough time for preparation before the important tour.
“We got three days off. We need to take some rest. Before the main matches (in SA) we will have enough time there to practice. We have been playing lot of cricket,“ he said.
Dhawan, who replaced Delhi teammate Virender Sehwag in the Indian side in March and now has replaced M.S. Dhoni as the style icon for FBB, brims with con fidence. “Naturally I'm a confident per son. You would have seen that in my per formances. With performance, confi dence level goes high,“ he added.
The talented opener who has made five centuries in ODIs plus a debut Test centu ry this calendar year doesn't worry about nervous nineties. “I control my emotions n 90's. I don't let nervousness get the better f me. I try to play the ball on merit and will not get ambitious for big shots,“ he aid.
It will be the first Test series without Sachin Tendulkar for India. “Sachin Paaji's xperience was big for us and his presence n dressing room mattered the most. We will miss him, but the good thing is that all he batsmen are performing well and good ielding is a bonus,“ he said.
