Rohit Sharma’s form is the only shortcoming in India’s victories in the first two ODIs against injury-hit South Africa, but his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan is confident that the Mumbaikar is just a knock away from finding his groove in the six-match ODI series.

Speaking to reporters on the eve of the third ODI at Newlands here, Dhawan said Rohit, who has so far scored just 35 runs in two innings, is timing the ball well and a good knock is not far away.

Advertisement

“I feel Rohit is playing well, looking at the way he is timing the ball. Even in the last match he was playing really good. Unfortunately he got out but I don’t feel concerned about his batting at all,” the southpaw said.

“He has performed so well right from the Champions Trophy, till now. Sometimes it does happen that you don’t score runs. But what matters the most is how he is timing the ball.

“There is no problem at all with his form. I think he just needs one good innings, to solve all problems,” he added.

India rode on the wrist spin duo of leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, sharing 13 wickets between them, to thrash the Proteas by six and nine wickets respectively in the first two games.

Hailing the duo’s ability to deceive the batsmen with turn, Dhawan said: “It is difficult to play wrist-spinners because they have the ability to turn the ball on flat tracks as well.”

“And when the ball starts to turn, foreign players find it really difficult, because they are not used to playing such kind of turn. That can create a doubt in batsman’s mind. That is why they are really effective.

“Out of the two spinners Kuldeep and Chahal, the former is more difficult to read as he is a chinaman bowler. There are certain players who can’t read the googly. As far as Chahal is concerned, not many players read his googly,” he added.

The southpaw added that one of major reasons for India’s success in the 50-over format is because of the great balance that the team possesses.

“We are a really balanced side. The good part is we have youth, as well as experience in the side. The youngsters are also showing a lot of maturity. So that is our biggest strength,” he said.

“And in our ranks we have an all-rounder as well, which really helps us. That gives a lot of flexibility to the squad. So we can time the introduction of our spinners according to the situation of the match,” he concluded.