IPL 2023: Is Shikhar Dhawan anchoring the innings a strategy bound to fail?

Dhawan has scored his 225 runs at a strike rate of 149. Majority of which is thanks to his death overs onslaught in the last two matches. His approach to all three innings have more or less been the same.

In the first game against Kolkata Knight Riders, he made 40 off 29 with six fours and at a strike rate of 137.93. Punjab Kings won by seven runs via DLS method. In the second game against Rajasthan Royals, Dhawan made 86 not out off 56 balls, a knock comprising nine fours and three sixes. He went at a strike rate of 153.57. Punjab won by 5 runs in the high-scoring game. This was followed by his best score, a 99 not out off just 66 balls. A strike rate of 150, 12 fours and five sixes. But unfortunately though Dhawan played his role, the other batsmen didn’t fire. The next best being Sam Curran’s 22. They made just 143 for 9 and Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 8 wickets and 17 balls to spare.

In Punjab’s first two games, Dhawan played his ‘sheet anchor’ role as those around him scored at a brisker rate. However, against KKR, he scored 40 and was dismissed before he could pick up the strike rate. Against Rajasthan, he found the opportunity to cut loose – adding 56 off his last 26 deliveries after a run-a-ball 30, staying unbeaten till the end.

Dhawan is not the only veteran looking to build an innings instead of going hammer and tongs. Delhi Capitals David Warner has scored three fifties in four games but with the team yet to open their account the Australian’s poor strike rate has come in for more criticism. 56 from 48 balls, 37 from 32, 65 from 55 and 51 from 47 don’t translate to strike rates which made Warner a dangerous T20 player.

Dhawan is also fortunate because his opening partner Prabhsimran Singh has laid the platform and allowed him to play second fiddle in the early overs. “These two matches, we’ve gotten off to a great start. Prabh has been playing really well and I’m doing my best to increase my strike rate,” he’d concede. Lower in the order as well, Punjab are packed with batters who can score at a quicker rate and allow their captain to play second fiddle until he maximises the time spent in the middle. Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran and soon, currently injured Bhanuka Rajapaksa and soon-to-join Liam Livingstone.

Punjab Kings’ captain Shikhar Dhawan plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Hyderabad, India, Sunday, April 9, 2023. (AP)

The Impact Player rules also allows the addition of a batsman if needed and hence adding to the firepower.

Experts have called for Dhawan to push up his scoring rate.

“There still is a role for someone like Shikhar,” went Deep Dasgupta during Punjab Kings’ second game. “For a sheet anchor. By that, I mean, even if you are anchoring the innings, you still have to go a little quicker than this.” Ian Bishop would add, “He has to be scoring at a minimum of a 135. The more the better.”

A criticism that was made of Dhawan’s 56-ball-86 was that Punjab narrowly escaped Rajasthan with a five-run win. On a surface where the ball was skidding and the bowlers were unable to grip the ball, making 220 an achievable first innings score especially after Prabhsimran fired on all cylinders earlier that innings.

Jaffer, however, would jump to Dhawan’s defence. “I think when Prabhsimran was going so well, he knew he could take his time and play second fiddle. That’s where experience counts. When Prabhsimran got out, he took charge and batted through the innings.”

What if wickets on the other end keep falling? As they did against Hyderabad. 99 not out from Dhawan was the standout innings.

His innings in Hyderabad displayed just how good Dhawan is at pacing his innings. An innings where he did justice to his 170 plus strike rate against pacers in the slog overs.

Having weathered the storm from the SRH attack earlier, Dhawan targeted all of them for orchestrating a sixth highest 10th wicket stand in men’s T20Is.
Against leg-spinner Mayank Markande, who had kept batters second-guessing between his googly and stock ball all night, he shimmied down the track to slam a boundary. Umran Malik’s short and quick stuff was dealt with pulls for maximums. Not once but twice in the same over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s death bowling vulnerabilities would be exposed with exquisite wristwork and timing to collect more fours. T Natarajan would fail to nail his yorker and Dhawan latched onto the low full tosses with utmost disdain.

Consistency has never been in question for Dhawan. The southpaw is only behind Virat Kohli in the all time runs tally, has scored 400 plus runs in every season since 2016 and is only the third batsman with fifty plus fifty scores.

But it’s a familiar road for Punjab. Their former captain KL Rahul has had his own problems with strike rate in the shortest format having termed it as ‘overrated’. In a 213-run chase the other night following a 20-ball-18, Rahul suggested, “If I score more runs, my strike rate will go up as well.” It hasn’t actually been the case for him though. Rahul has been a prime contender for most runs in the IPL over consecutive seasons. His strike rate though has only gotten lower from 138 in 2021 to only 100 in his four innings so far this season.

During his stay at Punjab, Rahul would argue that he had to stick around in the middle for as long as possible owing to a lack of depth in the batting order. For Dhawan, performing the same role is a result of the opposite.