Before the start of the Test series against Sri Lanka, Shikhar Dhawan was enjoying with his family in Hong Kong, as he was not the part of it but he was called in the Indian team on a short notice after Murali Vijay failed to recover from the wrist injury.
The left-handed batsman was not a preferred choice to open the innings in the first Test at Galle and it was Abhinav Mukund who was to open the batting with KL Rahul but the latter one suffered viral fever and Dhawan opened the innings alongside Mukund.
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From there, he never looked back and finished the series as the highest run-scorer with a total of 358 runs at an average of 89.50. On the first day of the series itself, after getting a reprieve on a score of 31, he played an innings of 190 of just 168 deliveries, to kick off the series on a high.
With this, he also left his impact and skipper Virat Kohli was forced to drop Mukund for the next Test, as KL Rahul made his way back in the team.
As the situation stands at present, KL Rahul is a fixed opener for Test cricket and Dhawan, with his performance in the series has already claimed the other spot and now, it’s a big problem for Kohli to welcome back Vijay on the side. Dropping Dhawan or KL Rahul will be unfair to them and there can be a case when Vijay might have to wait for his chance, the legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar reckons,
“The fact that Murali Vijay will be back soon will keep Shikhar Dhawan on his toes and considering how Dhawan has performed in this season, Murali Vijay may have to wait for his turn,” he told NDTV.
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During the home season, which comprised of 13 Test matches, team India had plenty of openers but never faced this issue, as on each occasion, one or the other player was injured, which was a blessing in disguise for skipper Kohli but now, the problem of plenty has emerged, which the skipper will encounter when Sri Lanka will travel to India for a full fledged series later this year.
Meanwhile, Vijay has made a comeback to the competitive cricket since the series against Australia, which was played in February/March. The opening batsman has played two games in TNPL for Kovai Kings till now, in which he has posted scores of 69 and 0, respectively.
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