While the whole of India is busy going gung-ho about the Indian Premier League, and having an opinion or two about the usual suspects, Harbhajan, Sreesanth and the Aussie cricketers, it is one other cricketer of the Delhi DareDevils side that is quietly notching up the runs for his team, especially when his team needs the most. Shikhar Dhawan has had a very consistent first four matches, in which he has averaged more than 60, scoring his runs at a healthy strike rate of over 120 runs per hundred balls. He has contributed handsomely in all the three victories that Delhi Darevils have recorded so far, and the only inning he failed – a duck against Kings XI – his team has lost. 
But this is not just about the IPL; Dhawan has been in the thick of the action for some time now. His first class average of forty may not bear a true testimony to his capability, but the fact of the matter is that Dhawan’s been doing the scoring when it is expected out of him the most. Whenever his team’s needed it the most. And to add to this, he boasts of a List A average of forty six. (List A, for the uninitiated, is the domestic limited overs competition), and to give it a perspective, Tendulkar’s ODI average is 44, Dravid and Ganguly are at 40, where as the upcoming player, Subramaniam Badrinath, tipped to be the next classical player to join the Indian ranks, has the average of 40 runs per innings in List A matches. If you would be wondering whether the average is all that there is to this left handed batsman, the fact of the matter is that his strike rate is more than 80 runs per 100 balls, an excellent statistic again.
Shikhar Dhawan’s only problem is with the current latent talent that’s boiling over from all parts of the country, which making it more competitive for him. A fact that obviously helps the team, but does not really enhance his chances. Adding the fact that he is a top order batsman – he bats at numbers 1, 2 or 3 – again goes against him. There are far too many players waiting in the line, hoping to grab the slots by the scruff of its neck. Tendulkar has already announced his intention to play in the 2011 World Cup, Gautam Gambhir’s in superlative form, Virender Sehwag always looks one knock away from sealing his spot, where as the Rainas, Karthiks, and the Uthappas are all proven customers. As if to complicate matters, Yusuf Pathan is slowly emerging as an all round options, who could not only open the batting, but also play a floating role in the order.
Hence, it would do him a world of good, if he could get the bigger scores in, and break open the proverbial ‘selectorial doors’ instead of feebly knocking it with great-starts-not-converted innings.
