'Hurt' Shikhar Dhawan Hits Back with Gutsy 81

Shikhar Dhawan battled through pain to hit a gutsy 81 against Australia on Day 4 of the second Test in Brisbane on Saturday. Dhawan had been injured in the wrist while batting in the nets ahead of the start of the fourth day's play.

Batting on 26 overnight, Dhawan was unable to begin the innings as Virat Kohli came out instead. India were rocked by Mitchell Johnson early on in the first session as they collapsed to 117/6. At this stage Dhawan returned to the crease and tried to give his team a substantial lead. The visitors went into lunch at 157/7 with Dhawan batting on 41. (Scorecard | Blog)

When India came out in the post-lunch session, Dhawan showed intent to get a big score as he cleverly farmed the strike while batting with number nine Umesh Yadav to reach his 2nd Test fifty.

Dhawan continued in the same vein as India's lead crossed over one hundred. His knock finally ended on 81 when he was trapped leg-before by Nathan Lyon. It was a courageous knock by the left-hander who was obviously finding it difficult to grip the bat as some of his shots saw him remove one hand.

Earlier, the Indian team management had fumed saying Dhawan's injury being caused due to the poor quality of the practice pitches. The BCCI's official statement said that they had to practice on worn-out wickets despite requesting the curator and groundsmen for fresh tracks.