Competition in team is keeping everyone on their toes: Shikhar Dhawan

Mount Maunganui (New Zealand), Jan 25 (CRICKETNMORE): Opener Shikhar Dhawan on Friday hailed the competition in the Indian team with upcoming openers Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill rising up the ranks

"Someone like a Prithvi Shaw, the way he came into the Test team and scored a century and 70 runs against the West Indies, it shows that our bench strength is also very good. So even among the 15 (squad members), we have very high competition."

On his own form, Dhawan said he is grateful for completing 5000 runs in the last match where the opener struck an unbeaten 75 after enduring a lean run in the ODI series against Australia.

"The milestone (5000 runs) means that I'm playing well and I am grateful for it," he said.

Did he make any changes to his game from the ODIs in Australia?

"I think Australian and New Zealand conditions are quite similar. I feel that I'm an experienced player now, I came here a few years ago. So you know what to do and what not to do (in New Zealand). I know my technique suits all sorts of wickets, so I just back myself.