Shikhar Dhawan took Test cricket by storm with his scintillating knock of 187 in Mohali against Australia on debut. After that burst he went through a lengthy dry spell of runs and failed to breach the hundred-run mark in England and Australia. When one saw him going after the Bangladesh bowlers with purpose and intent on Day-one of the Fatullah Test, one knew that India’s destructive opener was back in his elements. Dhawan finished with a flamboyant and attractive 173 runs off 195 balls with the help of 23 boundaries. Between the two knocks Dhawan scored one century (115 in Auckland) and got past 80 twice (Wellington and Brisbane). The remaining times he couldn’t get past 40. Lack of runs from Dhawan was a worrying factor for Team India as they struggled in England and Australia last year. With this confidence-boosting innings, the left-hander has, at least for now, washed off the concerns. And he feels the runs have come at the right time. “I am very satisfied with the way I played in this Test,” Dhawan said. “I haven’t been performing that well in Test cricket for a while now and it was important for me to get these runs. I think they came at the right time. “The pitch was really batting friendly and there wasn’t much of swing and bounce. It gets easer when the new ball is not swinging. In Australia there was bounce and a bit of movement and I had to respect that. Here I saw for the first three overs that there was not much help for the bowlers and so I went on to play my way,” he said. As he joyously described his innings, Dhawan also looked back at the tours of England and Australia, where his combined highest Test score was 87 in Brisbane. He expressed gratitude towards his team-mates and the support staff for helping him maintain his confidence level even when the runs were coming at a premium. That, Dhawan said, was why he could get back to playing the brand of cricket he likes to. “When I was going through a rough patch in Australia, the whole team backed me and stood by me,” Dhawan recalled. “That was the reason I didn’t lose confidence in my abilities and gave me the determination to come back strongly. “When the team backs you to the hilt despite weak performances, you remain in a good state of mind. That was a major reason why I could play this innings here.” Dhawan admitted he is at his happiest playing aggressive, attacking cricket. But he is also prepared to fight it out if that is the need of the hour. “I like to play aggressively. When the situation demands and the conditions demand, I will control my instincts,” he said. “But once I am in my flow, I like to play attacking cricket. That way you can put pressure on the opposition. When you are scoring fluent runs you disturb the bowler’s mind and rhythm and get more loose deliveries in return. It is good fun to dominate the bowlers.” As Dhawan went on a demolition mission in Fatullah, he had the perfect foil at the other end in Murali Vijay, like he did in Mohali. Then the two had notched up 289 runs together and here their partnership amounted to 283 runs. Between these two mammoth partnerships, there are haven’t been many significant opening stands between the two, although Vijay kept churning out big runs in England and Australia. With his form back, Dhawan hopes to share more memorable innings with his opening partner. “We didn’t get too many big partnerships because I was getting out quickly in most matches,” Dhawan said. “This is my 14th Test match and I have learned a lot from the previous ones. Hopefully you will see many more big partnerships between Vijay and me in the future.” Of his chemistry with Vijay at the crease, Dhawan said, “I am always having fun even when I am in the middle. I like to laugh and joke around with my partner while batting. Vijay, on the other hand, is very calm and quiet when he is out there. When two different characters are batting together things get even more interesting and I love batting with Vijay. I was very pleased to have this huge partnership with him after a long time. He played really well.”