Out-of-favor India opener Shikhar Dhawan has said that if he had been a selector of the Indian team, he would’ve also chosen Shubman Gill over himself in ODIs and also felt that he was concerned about losing his spot in the Indian team after Ishan Kishan slammed an ODI double ton against Bangladesh.
Shikhar Dhawan, who last played a Test in 2018 and a T20I in 2021, remained a part of the Indian team in the ODI format. He even led the Men in Blue when captain Rohit Sharma and ex-vice-captain KL Rahul were unavailable.
However, with just one half-century in his last 7 ODI matches, Dhawan was left out of the Indian team as potential replacements in Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill emerged. Dhawan had shown intent to perform and regain his place as he wished to play in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023.
However, with both Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill scoring double-centuries in ODIs recently and with Gill particularly showing great intent with the bat in 50-over cricket, Dhawan said that he felt that the Punjab opener deserved his chances over him.
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“If I was the selector then definitely would have given the chance to Shubman. Would have selected Shubman over Shikhar. I feel the way Shubman is (playing at the moment). Like he was playing two formats and performing well in Tests and T20s. He was playing more matches in the international circuit and I wasn’t,” Dhawan said in an interview with Aaj Tak.
Shikhar Dhawan also spoke about Kishan’s brilliant 210 against Bangladesh, saying: “When Ishan Kishan slammed a double century against Bangladesh, then for a moment I thought I could be out of the team.”
The southpaw also said that he had the full backing of captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid and he was dropped after his form hit a dip.
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“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. 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.
This is not something new in cricket. Or this happened just with me, plenty of others have met with the 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.
Shikhar Dhawan will be seen leading the Punjab Kings in the upcoming IPL 2023 which begins on March 31.
(Aaj Tak inputs)
