Dhawan one of best opening batsmen in world: Ganguly

Delhi Capitals advisor Sourav Ganguly described Shikhar Dhawan as one of the best opening batsmen in the world and revealed that his franchise was 'desperate' to rope in the left-hander after he left Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Back with his home team after being traded with Vijay Shankar, Shabaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma, the India opener regained his touch to smash an unbeaten 97 from 63 balls to script Delhi Capitals seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders here on Friday night.

"Probably he's one of the best opening batsmen in the world. We were desperate for Shikhar Dhawan when we heard that he's going to leave SRH. Good that he is coming off.

"It is an important phase of the tournament. It's good to see Shikhar get a good score with the tournament entering the second phase," Ganguly said at the post-match press conference.

"It was more like a Shikhar Dhawan innings once he gets set, he takes the game away. He is a class act. He plays exactly the same way when he plays for India. He's been scoring consistently in the shorter format in International cricket," he added.

Chasing 179 for victory, Dhawan was however denied a maiden T20 century after Colin Ingram hit the winning runs with a six off Piyush Chawla to seal the win with seven balls to spare.

"Hundreds are not always possible in T20 cricket. The important thing is to win the match."
Stating that there is still a long way to go in the tournament, the former skipper said: "Every game is important, because the goal is to be in the last four."
"The best part of the game was how we bowled in the match. When we took Ishant Sharma, many said that he is a Test bowler, but he has been the best bowler for the last six-odd matches."
Asked if their bowlers had a special plan for danger man Andre Russell, he said: "For Russell, there is only one plan, keep praying that he hits one up in the air and is caught."
On his new role, Ganguly said: "It is much more difficult to sit in the dugout than playing in the middle."
"We are determined to turn this team around. Both of us have played in teams which have won around the world. So there's a lot of self-pride in turning teams around."