Not very long ago, Shikhar Dhawan was considered an indispensable part of India’s ODI team. Given his performance for India in ODIs over the last decade or so and his reputation, not many had expected him to lose his place in the team ahead of this year’s ODI World Cup at home.
In fact, the southpaw was the stand-in captain in ODIs on several occasions when Rohit Sharma was either rested or was busy leading the team in other format. His form in ODIs, however, compelled the team-management to axe him from the team and give an extended run to youngsters like Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan.
Since January 2021, Shikhar Dhawan has not managed to score a single century in ODIs while his strike-rate of less than 80 has only made things worse for him. In 28 ODIs that he has played in the last couple of years, he has managed 985 runs at a strike-rate of 78.80 which is almost unacceptable in modern-day cricket.
On the other hand, his replacement Gill has performed exceedingly well in ODIs especially in the ongoing year. In 2023, he has already hit two centuries, one double century and a fifty in 6 ODIs and looks set to open the innings with Rohit Sharma in the World Cup.
Shikhar Dhawan opens up on his axing:
More than three months after playing his last ODI for Team India, Shikhar Dhawan has finally broken his silence on the axing from the team. Speaking to Aaj Tak, the veteran opener made it clear that he does not hold any grudges against captain Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid.
He revealed that Rohit and Dravid backed him and urged him to focus on the ICC event. The out-of-favour opener also said that he fell out of the team due to a dip in his form and the consistency of Shubman Gill.
“When Rohit took over the captaincy he along with Rahul Dravid backed me enough. They told me they wanted me to focus on my cricket and that my vision should be the next World Cup,” Shikhar Dhawan said.
“2022 was very good for me, I was consistent in ODIs. But there is this young guy who has been doing well in two formats, and when my form dipped in a series or two then they gave a chance to Shubman and he has lived up to their expectations,” he added.
Speaking further, Dhawan said that he is not the first player in cricket to be axed from a team in this manner. He stressed that several cricketers have met with a similar fate.
“This is not something new in cricket. Or this happened just with me, plenty others have met with same fate. There are times when you play well throughout the year and then your form drops for one month or two, sometimes that becomes bigger than your performance throughout the year. When a captain, coach and selector take a decision they put plenty of thoughts into it,” said Dhawan.
The southpaw will be in action soon when he leads Punjab Kings in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, scheduled to begin from March 31.
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