Shikhar Dhawan has been away from the Indian T20 setup for quite a long time now. He recently featured in the ODIs against West Indies at home but couldn’t find a spot in the squad for the shortest format as India played 6 matches last month.
With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Dhawan hopes to board the flight to Australia. He believes that if he does well in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), he can make it to the final 15 for the mega ICC event.
In a conversation with Time of India, Dhawan said he is confident of doing well for his new franchise Punjab Kings in the IPL 2022.
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“The T20 World Cup is coming. I know that if I do well in the IPL, I can get into the side. I am a very process-driven person. I don’t set goals. Till the time, I am enjoying my game – and when I am saying enjoying my game, I mean from a fitness, game, and mindset perspective – If I am enjoying on all these fronts, it works best for me. And I’m in that space right now. So, I’m making sure my process is very strong, and I automatically achieve all that I need to,” Dhawan was quoted as saying.
The 36-year-old said even if he doesn’t get selected for the T20 World Cup, he won’t let that affect his present state of mind.
“I am confident of doing well in the IPL. And if I do that, I will have a chance to make the World Cup squad. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t – time will tell. But I won’t allow any of that to affect my state of mind,” he added.
Dhawan further spoke about the changes he made to his thought process. He said he used to ‘compete aggressively’ in the past but now, he has stopped chasing and has begun taking setbacks in a positive way.
“Right now, I am not in the T20 side or Test side, but playing the IPL is a great opportunity. I’m earning good money. I have seen the ups and downs, playing for the Indian team these last ten-odd years. There were times I would be desperate when I was about to get out of the side. I used to compete aggressively. But as I have grown, I have let go of many things. I don’t compete with anyone anymore. I’ve stopped chasing. When I began to change my thought-processes, everything around me began to change.
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“I now believe in contribution, not in competition. I believe if I am performing at a good level, things will always come to me. And even if it doesn’t, it’s fine. I see things very differently. When I was in DC, I performed well, and I was the highest run-getter in the team. But I still wasn’t retained. Still, I thought there’s something good in it. If I start to see things negatively then, it will affect me and people around me. I tried understanding that bit about psychology. It has made my life peaceful,” Dhawan said.
Almost six months back, in July last year, Dhawan led a second-string Indian team in Sri Lanka. However, the T20I series was marred by an outburst of Covid-19 in the visiting camp and India lost it 1-2.
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