Shikhar Dhawan congratulates Rohit Sharma on becoming a father: I am very happy for himIndia vs Australia: Shikhar Dhawan addressed the media ahead of the third and final ODI against Australia where he congratulated Rohit Sharma.advertisement India Today Web Desk MelbourneJanuary 17, 2019UPDATED: January 17, 2019 14:00 IST Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are one of the most successful ODI opening pairs in the game right now (Dhawan Instagram)HIGHLIGHTSRohit Sharma and Ritika Sajdeh welcomed their first baby on December 30Rohit is the second highest scorer in the current ODI series with 176 runsDhawan and Rohit recently became the 4th opening pair in ODI history to go past 4000 runsShikhar Dhawan, who is a father of three, is very happy for his opening partner Rohit Sharma after the Indian ODI vice-captain welcomed his first baby with wife Ritika Sajdeh on late last year.Rohit and Ritika became proud parents of a baby girl on December 30 and they named their child, Samaira.Dhawan, who was addressing the media ahead of the third ODI against Australia, was asked about Rohit’s daughter and he took this opportunity to congratulate the Hitman.”I’m very happy for Rohit and his wife. Ofcourse he is very happy after becoming a father and I’m sure he’ll be a great father,” Dhawan said.Congrats on becoming a Daddy @ImRo45 – @SDhawan25 has a message for you #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/JTlNoRR7OhBCCI (@BCCI) January 17, 2019The left-handed opener was also quizzed about him practicing with tennis balls during India’s nets session on Thursday. Dhawan replied by saying that he does that to fine-tune his reflexes against the short ball.”That drill is to keep my muscle memory and reflexes quick for bouncers, as Australia has fast bowlers, quick fast bowlers.”As an opener I make sure that my reflexes are quick, and even my decision making gets stronger, it’s a repetitive drill so I like doing it,” Dhawan explained.Dhawan also said that it was great to see MS Dhoni performing well in both the ODIs of their ongoing three-match series and added that he is happy that the wicket-keeper batsman is getting back in touch.He also praised right-hand batsman Dinesh Kartik who played a knock of 25 runs off 24 balls in the last ODI against Australia.advertisement”It was great to see a good team performance in the last one day match against Australia. The way Dhoni played in both the games is really great. I am very happy that Dhoni is getting his touch back. A player of his stature, who plays the game with so much calmness, gives so much confidence to other batsmen. It is very important for us.”Even Dinesh (Karthik) played a very good knock in the last game. So the good thing is that we got all fit and mature players which make us a strong batting unit. We have been consistent in our performance over the past few years and hopefully, we will continue performing well in coming years,” he said.India will be aiming to clinch the ODI series while taking on Australia in their final match of the series. Dhawan admitted that if they won, it would be a good achievement for the team adding that they are looking forward to the match.”It will be a big final tomorrow. It is going to be an interesting game for both the teams. We are looking forward to an exciting game tomorrow. It (the victory) will mean a lot to us. It is always good to come here and win. If we win tomorrow, it will be a big achievement for us. Of course, we are going to value it and cherish it,” Dhawan said.Meanwhile, Cricket Australia announced the final playing XI for the series-decider against India, making two changes to the team with Adam Zampa and Billy Stanlake replacing Nathan Lyon and Jason Behrendorff.Australia XI: Aaron Finch, Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Adam Zampa, Billy StanlakeAlso Read | India’s only concern in ODI series vs Australia is 3rd seamer: Sunil GavaskarAlso Read | Rishabh Pant for World Cup 2019? Sachin Tendulkar weighs in with his thoughtsAlso Read | MS Dhoni back with a bang after Adelaide heroics, says Nikhil ChopraFor sports news, updates, live scores and cricket fixtures, log on to indiatoday.in/sports. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for Sports news, scores and updates.Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from Post your comment Do You Like This Story? Awesome! Now share the story Too bad. Tell us what you didn’t like in the comments Posted byrohan sen Tags :Follow India vs AustraliaFollow Shikhar DhawanFollow Rohit SharmaFollow Melbourne ODI