extremely Satisfying to score century: Dhawan

No flashy drives and playing close to the body was the secret for another Dhawan special on his home ground as he ended the day unbeaten on 137 off 198 balls.

“Conditions were challenging as the ball was doing a bit in the morning,” he said after the day’s play. “The wicket is juicy as there was no sunshine to bake it. It’s less now but nevertheless there is juice. Hopefully when we get the new ball, we will be able to do the damage.

“I changed my game when the left-arm spinner (Mehidy Hasan) was bowling, I was itchingto hit him. But looking at the overall situation, I curbed my instincts as there wasn’t much batting left.

“With experience, you get an idea what shots to play on whichkind of track. I didn’t play too many balls away from my body, didn’t play the drives.

“When I was (aged) 20-21, I would play those shots. But now with experience, I have a look at the track and know what kind of shots are required. My plan was not to play the drive. I played one and the edge flew to gully and was fortunately called no-ball. I was batting on 67. I tried to play box cricket, that is bat close to the pad. On these wickets you tend to get good balls.It was more like England conditions. It’s good as scoring runs in these conditions helps boost confidence,” he explained.

Asked about the other batsmen who failed to get going, Dhawan said that the wicket was helping the bowlers. “They got good balls and strategy-wise they fiddled with deliveries outside the off-stump. Of course, the conditions were tough in the morning because seam and swing movement was more.

“But I will still credit all those who made those 25s (Kumwar Narain Bhiduri 22 n.o., Anuj Rawat 29, Nitish Rana 25) because those were significant contributions. 269 is a good a start,” he said. The 34-year-old said that he will be happy if the players benefit from picking his brains.

“I try to mix and interact with them at their level. I share my experiences. I talk to the batting unit about what all can be done and Ishant Sharma similarly talks to the bowlers. The experience that we have gained in so many years, it’s nice to give it back tothe players. If guys benefit from it, it feels great. Now that we have come, the momentum that was needed, we got that,” he said.

Dhawan feels that there are enough runs on the board and Delhi definitely holds the upper handafter the opening day’s action.