Centurion Shikhar Dhawan, shoulders covered with tattoos and a constant smile as his second skin, struck a happy pose during the media interaction here on Saturday. Excerpts
The animated celebration
It was a fun thing with the boys. We made a sign and it had nothing to do with the second century (of the series).
They gave me a new name and I was just celebrating that. I can’t disclose the name.
A day of runs and wickets
The wicket is a bit on the slower side and does not have much bounce. K.L. Rahul and I played nicely. We played our shots and got out. It was not as if we got out because of the pitch.
After that, the Sri Lankan bowlers bowled well and pulled the match a bit towards their side, but we got a decent score and still have good batsmen to score more runs — may be 400 or more.
The surface
It (pitch) is dry but I can’t say whether it is going to break because I don’t know about it.
Let’s see how it goes on the third day and we will all know. When Sri Lanka bats, we are going to squeeze hard and not give away easy runs.
Sri Lankan spinners
The Chinaman bowler (Lakshan Sandakan) was turning the ball. It’s hard to pick his googly.
The other left-arm spinner (Malinda Pushpakumara) is also good and he took wickets by bowling at the right spots.
His batting style
I was jokingly saying that if you bat like a king, you should also get out like a king and not be dismissed like a soldier.
I am an aggressive batsman, so I would rather get out that way than getting out in the slips.
