The Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t played in the international cricket owing to his knee injury. However, his absence in the team roped way for KL Rahul who has opened alongside Rohit Sharma and given some good performances during the recently concluded home limited-overs series against West Indies.
During the T20I series, Rahul’s knock of 91 runs helped India post the victorious first innings total in the series-decider. In total six matches, three T20Is and three ODIs, Rahul acquired a total of 349 runs.
However, the hard-hitting opener Dhawan is all set to make a comeback in the national team. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) has declared him to be fit to play for the Indian team, although he will be given some time before Dhawan comes back on the field.
Before the West Indies tour of India, Dhawan went through a knee injury in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. It was later discovered that the cricketer ran through a deep gash on his knee and had to get 25 stitches.
Dhawan: My class is permanent, and I will score runs
However, Dhawan has now received a clean chit from NCA and will be playing for the Delhi team in the Round 3 Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad. The round 3 of the tournament will start from December 25 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
Nevertheless, the opener has been named for the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka that starts on Jan 5. Talking about his injury and comeback in the game, Dhawan said that he still remembers his game and will be looking forward to scoring big runs in the upcoming series.
“Injuries are natural. You’ve got to accept that. It’s fine and I don’t create a big fuss about it. The start-stop thing doesn’t affect me as I haven’t forgotten how to bat. My class is permanent and I will score runs.”
Dhawan said that he is looking forward to performing well in the upcoming T20s against Sri Lanka. However, the decision will be still in the team management’s hand. Dhawan will be opening in the forthcoming T20I series with KL Rahul as Rohit Sharma is given rest for the T20I game and will look forth to give his best.
“This is an important season. I would like to perform well in the T20s against Sri Lanka but the selection is support staff’s (team management) headache. They will do their job and I will do mine. Looking forward to scoring big runs,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
India T20I squad for Sri Lanka series:
Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar.
India ODI squad for Australia series:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami.
Full schedule of India’s matches in January 2020
T20I series vs Sri Lanka
1st T20I- Barasapara Cricket Ground, Guwahati – January 5
2nd T20I- Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore – January 7
3rd T20I at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune – January 10
ODI series vs Australia
1st ODI- Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai – January 14
2nd ODI- Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot – January 17
3rd ODI- M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru – January 19