Former cricketer Aakash Chopra sense India skipper for Sri Lanka series Shikhar Dhawan was more deserving of the Man of the Match award than Prithvi Shaw in the first ODI match between India-Sri Lanka. The legendary commentator said India’s skipper unbeaten knock of 86 was not only match-winning in itself but also set the platform for his teammates to play their game.
“I believe Shikhar Dhawan should have won the Man of the Match award because he was unbeaten till the end. If he had got out early, the 43 [by Prithvi Shaw] and Ishan Kishan’s 59 would have been seen from an entirely different perspective because the lower middle-order is still a bit inexperienced. It should have been Shikhar Dhawan, it was a match-winning knock and also a lesson for everyone else that if you get a start, make it count because a small and beautiful innings [is well and good] but if you want to play a towering knock, you’ll have to be there till the end,” Aakash Chopra said in an interaction on ESPNcricinfo.
Chasing a target of 263, India young opener Prithvi Shaw scored 43 runs off 24 balls. Shikhar Dhawan started slowly but played a skipper knock till the end, debutant Ishan Kishan’s half-century, Manish Pandey’s 26, and Suryakumar Yadav’s 31* made India won the game within 37 overs, losing only three wickets in the second innings.
