The selectors issued the first call-up to young Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh for the recently concluded home series against South Africa, while old horse Dinesh Karthik and injured Hardik Pandya also made their Twenty20 comebacks. But Shikhar Dhawan was one of the notable omissions from the five-game assignment against the Proteas, which ended in a 2-2 stalemate. (Also read | ‘That wasn’t the plan’: Dravid gets hilarious reaction to working with ‘too many captains’ as India head coach,
Dhawan, 36, enjoyed another consistent run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he scored 460 runs in 14 matches for Punjab Kings. He scored 587 last season and 618 the year before that.
Despite being between runs and leading India on the tour of Sri Lanka last year, Dhawan did not find a place in the final T20 World Cup squad. It is no secret that there is intense competition for each place at the national level. Dhawan has IPL runs, but does that increase his chances of making a comeback in the T20 set-up?
The great Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t see Dhawan making a comeback, especially after being ruled out of the home T20I series against South Africa. The former India captain gave a scathing reaction on whether Dhawan would be cleared for the T20 showpiece event in Australia. Since making his debut in 2010, the left-handed opener has played 34 Tests, 149 ODIs and 68 T20Is for India. He has also won seven consecutive IPL seasons with over 400 runs.
“No. I can’t see his name coming up. If it had to pop up, it would have been in this team. A lot of people have gone to England and he could have been in this team. If he’s not in this team, I Don’t see him ending up in the mix (for the T20 World Cup),” Gavaskar said in an interaction. star sports during the game.
Gavaskar further picked Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as India’s two openers for the T20 spectacle. While all-format captain Rohit took a break after the end of the IPL, Rahul was set to play in the South Africa T20 before a groin injury ruled him out of the series.
“My opening combination will be KL Rahul if he is fit and Rohit Sharma is with him,” adding the batting great.
Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith also echoed the same sentiment and said that the Indian pair have been ‘excellent’ in the role.
“I would go with Sunny. They are fantastic players. Rahul and Rohit have done business consistently and they are excellent top-order for India,” Smith said.
