The 33-year-old Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan has made himself available for the upcoming domestic List A tournament, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20.
Shikhar Dhawan is currently busy in the ongoing home T20I series against South Africa. On Sunday (22nd September), India and South Africa will play the third and final T20I of this series at Bengaluru. Ahead of the last T20I of this series, India are currently leading this series by 1-0.
After this T20I series, India will play the three-match home Test series against South Africa from 2nd October to 23rd October 2019. However, the left-handed opening batsman Dhawan isn’t in this Test squad.
While he has now enough free time, Shikhar Dhawan is ready to play the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi. The Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20 will run from 24th September to 25th October 2019.
According to News18, Dhawan said, “Now even after this series, I am going to play Vijay Hazare as well. I am looking forward to that. I make sure that whatever cricket I play, I play with all my heart whether it’s Ranji, Vijay Hazare or the Indian team.”
The 27-year-old Dhruv Shorey will lead the Delhi side in the forthcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. Present international cricketers Rishabh Pant and Navdeep Saini are also in this Delhi squad. Delhi were the runners-up in the previous Vijay Hazare Trophy (2018/19). In 2012/13, Delhi won their only Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Delhi will begin their journey in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy on 24th September when they will face Vidarbha.
Match practice is the best practice – Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan believes that match practice is the best practice. As he is not in the Test squad for the upcoming home series against South Africa, he has enough free time. So, he wants to utilise the free times by playing domestic cricket matches.
He added, “I had free time since I was not in the Test team, so thought rather than sitting at home or training, play matches which are good for my confidence and my skill levels. Match practice is the best practice so I thought it’s a good opportunity for me to go and express myself. I was not part of the Test team so I had the opportunity.”
Apart from 133 ODIs and 54 T20Is, Shikhar Dhawan has also played 34 Tests. While he made his ODI debut in 2010 and T20I debut in 2011, he made his Test debut in March 2013. The left-handed opening batsman Dhawan played his last Test in September 2018 during The Oval Test against England.
However, Dhawan is still a regular player in the limited-overs international cricket matches.