Claiming to be a much-improved batsman, India's Shikhar Dhawan, who returned to form with a blazing 173 in the ongoing one-off Test against Bangladesh, on Saturday said that many big stands are in store with his opening partner Murali Vijay.
Draw looms after more rain in Bangladesh on Day 4
Run-machine Vijay wants to breach 200-run barrier in Tests
Dhawan added 283 runs for the first wicket with Vijay (150), laying the foundation for India's formidable first-innings score of 462 for six declared in the rain-interrupted Test match that is headed for a tame draw with Bangladesh placed at 111 for three at stumps on the fourth and penultimate day.
"This is my 14th Test match and I have learnt quite a few things from my previous tours and now you will see bigger partnerships between me and Vijay because once we spend more time in the middle and get exposed to different attacks, automatically the runs start flowing," Dhawan said.
With more than 200 overs lost due to frequent rain interruptions in the previous three days, the Kohli-led visitors came out all guns blazing and picked up the first opposition wicket quite early today only to see a bit of resistance from the second-wicket batting pair.
Talking about the frequent rain interventions, Dhawan said, "It is very disappointing because we get up very early to come to the ground. We look forward to play cricket and when it doesn't happen we feel sad. But it (weather) is not in our hands, so we have to accept it and move on.
"According to the weather forecast we expect a lot of rain (tomorrow) but hopefully we will get to play for sometime."
Asked about the flat deck at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Dhawan said shot-making was easy there.
"It's more of a batting wicket but our bowlers have been performing well. They got three wickets. During the World Cup the pitches we played on had bounce and swing. But here within two-three overs I realised that I could start playing my shots and after that everything automatically fell in place," he insisted.
