Shikhar Dhawan - The vintage car has plenty left in its tank

Imagine being in a situation where you have an abundance of cars in your garage. However, the car that has been your first-choice over the years, has just started showing wears and tears.

The replacement that you have lined up is unfortunately unavailable due to its scheduled maintenance, meaning that the burden has suddenly fallen on an engine that has been touted for greatness but hasn’t had enough exposure.

There are a couple of flashy cars too – cars that whisk away at more than a hundred miles per hour, but cars that also don’t come with a guarantee of not crashing and burning.

In a manner almost equating desperation, you decide to dust off a car that has long existed in your shed but one that has dwindled in importance lately. It has, historically, been one of the few automobiles that has been a part of every crest you’ve scaled.

Deep down, though, you still feel that its days are numbered and you opine that it has, in contrast to its performance, run its race. Ultimately you decide in its favour, and it becomes the best decision as you head towards another major event.

Which brings us to a relatively similar story brewing between the Indian cricket team and Shikhar Dhawan. All the car jargon and puns aside, Dhawan has, in the past few months, seen his place in the Indian side come under a massive scanner.

Dhawan (L) was dropped from India's T20 World Cup squad in 2021

The veteran left-handed batter was dropped from the 2021 T20 World Cup squad altogether. A series against New Zealand followed and Dhawan didn’t feature in that either, meaning that when his name popped up in India’s ODI squad for the assignment against South Africa, it was assumed that the Men In Blue were solely looking at him as an ODI batter.

Thus, when Dhawan walked out to bat at Boland Park on 19th January, he knew he was entering as much of a last-chance saloon as he has done recently. Not only did he have to battle for his spot, he also had to show a billion people what he remained capable of. More crucially, though, he had to portray to them that he could still be what others can only dream of becoming.

It would be very easy to dismiss Dhawan’s knock at Paarl and suggest that it came in a losing cause. There is a bit of truth to it too because, well, match-winning knocks occupy a special place in memory and cricketing folklore. But for anyone who watched his essay, it wouldn’t be hard to argue that he was possibly the best Indian batter on display.

Shikhar Dhawan was superb in the 1st ODI against South Africa

The left-handed batter creamed his way to 79 (off 84 balls) and barely broke a sweat while doing so. The flowing cover drives, which have symbolized large stretches of Dhawan’s career, were back in vogue. He was severe on anything short and was quite efficient off his pads as well.

In simpler words, he looked anything but the batter who scratched around during the second phase of the Indian Premier League and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. For those with a statistical inclination, Dhawan only scored 56 runs in 5 innings in the domestic fifty-over competition, which incidentally was the last bit of competitive cricket he played before touring South Africa.

The best part about his innings was the way he acclimatized to a tough track. The ball wasn’t coming on to the bat as many had expected and a lot of other batters struggled. The former Delhi Capitals batter, however, timed the ball exquisitely from the outset and used his experience to put the bowlers under pressure.

In a nutshell, this was everything India would’ve wanted from their marquee opener. He kept the bowlers at bay during the Power Play and also took enough calculated risks to maintain the required run rate. That he has done so consistently over the years only emphasizes why the Indian cricketing community shouldn’t jump the gun on him too early.

Dhawan has long been considered one of India’s greatest match-winners in the 2010s. A quick glance at his cavalier style quells a lot of doubts too. The numbers, though, paint the most accurate picture.

The left-handed batter has scored a century 17 times in ODI cricket. Of those, India have only lost on four occasions. The former DC cricketer has passed the 50-run barrier 51 times throughout his career in ODI cricket. India have won on 38 of those occasions, hinting that he is indeed as good a match-winner as any the country has seen.

Additionally, he forms an elite list of Indian batters who save their best for ICC events. He was India’s leading run-scorer in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and was pretty handy at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup too.

He caressed an excellent century against Australia in the 2019 edition as well and you feel India could’ve done with his services as their top order fell like a pack of cards at Old Trafford against New Zealand.

Apart from that, he seems to have an uncanny knack of standing up to be counted just when everyone has written him off. Remember the build-up to the first leg of the 2021 IPL, where many had labeled his batting style archaic? He ended up thumping every bowling attack that tried to cross his path.

Thus, on pedigree alone, Dhawan should be in the Men In Blue’s plans for the upcoming 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. Though the caravan might have passed him by in the shortest format, there is no denying that his batting ability, both against pace and spin, hasn’t waned in ODIs.

The only question mark (at least before the South Africa series) revolved around whether Dhawan still had enough oil in the tank to motor to the finish line one last time.

And, if the knock at Boland Park is any evidence, it seems that he has plenty. Not just to be a part of the race, but also to dominate it in a fashion that can’t be replicated by many.

Maybe then, the decision to wipe off the dust and unleash a vintage model was right all along. There is no guarantee it’ll continue being that way because, well, Dhawan isn’t getting any younger and his reflexes aren’t going to get any quicker.

He may not be able to whistle away at a hundred miles per hour in three seconds ala Ishan Kishan or Rishabh Pant. He may not be able to deliver the unerring consistency that someone like Virat Kohli provided in the 2010s. He may not have the habit of scoring massive hundreds like Rohit Sharma. And he may never been touted for as much greatness as KL Rahul.

But with Dhawan, you know there will be a whole-hearted and committed individual in your ranks – an individual who knows how to handle the big stage and seems to relish the occasion rather than being flustered about it.

That, in itself, isn’t very ubiquitous. If you add that to the class, grace and effortlessness that remains in his stroke-play, the answer to whether Dhawan should be a part of India’s 2023 World Cup plans becomes quite simple.