Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned the non-selection of Shikhar Dhawan in India’s T20I squad for the South Africa series. Despite the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Suryakumar Yadav missing, Dhawan has been left out of the team.
Young batters Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad got an opportunity in place of Shikhar Dhawan in the team. The veteran cricketer led India in the white-ball series against Sri Lanka a year ago. However, he does not feature in India’s scheme of things at the moment in the shortest format.
In a QnA session on his Youtube Channel, Aakash Chopra was asked if Shikhar Dhawan could have been a better choice than Ruturaj Gaikwad. The former cricketer replied:
“If Dhawan is in India’s scheme of things for the T20 World Cup, then yes. If not, then no. His selection is not based on performances. He has been scoring runs in the IPL for the past three years. I am surprised that he was a captain in Sri Lanka a year back and is now not even in the team. There should be better continuity in thinking.”
“If the selectors are thinking of Dhawan for the World Cup even as an outside thought, then he should have been there. Had he been in the team, he could have been captain. That was a genuine possibility,” he added.
Quite a bit: Aakash Chopra feels India is missing KL Rahul in the T20I series
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra further expressed that the Indian team is missing KL Rahul. The opening batter suffered an injury and was ruled out of the series. In his absence, Rishabh Pant was handed over the captaincy duties.
Aakash Chopra feels that the absence of key players in the Indian team has boosted South Africa’s confidence. However, he added that these things don’t matter when a team wins. Aakash said,
“Quite a bit (India are missing Rahul). When the opposition sees names like Rahul, Rohit, and Virat missing in India’s batting order, their confidence is of a different level. But when a team wins, no one misses anyone. No one is saying South Africa is missing (Aiden) Markram or (Quinton) de Kock. The opposite happens when the team loses.”
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