Former India cricketer Saba Karim believes that including Shikhar Dhawan in the ODI team for the forthcoming South Africa series makes little sense because India’s opening position has been packed. Here is all about Saba Karim On Dhawan’s Inclusion In South Africa Series.
Saba Karim On Dhawan’s Inclusion In South Africa Series
Dhawan, who now has surrendered his Test position, has also gone by the wayside in India’s limited-overs structure in recent times, despite missing out on being picked to the 2021 T20 World Cup team before even being overlooked for the home series versus New Zealand having a slew of first-choice performers getting resting.
At the World Cup, India favoured the combo of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, but with youngsters Prithvi Shaw, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Venkatesh Iyer swiftly coming through the ranks, it needs to be seen how much Dhawan will have an opportunity to resume his international career.
I still think that Dhawan should be given one more opportunity: Karim
“Even if Dhawan is there in the squad, will he be part of the playing XI? KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma have opened in Tests and T20s, so I think they will open in ODIs as well. So, if you are including Dhawan in the squad and not playing him, should he be in the team? I don’t see the point of his inclusion, what is the need?” Karim said.
Dhawan captained a second-string side versus Sri Lanka previously this year while the regular team was in the United Kingdom for the five-match Test tour of England. He was not even in the finest of form since, getting just 207 runs in 8 innings in the 2nd leg of the 2021 IPL, whereas his statistics in the present Vijay Hazare Trophy posted 0, 12, 14, 18.
“The only thing possible is the left hand-right hand combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. It has been a formidable partnership as well,” Karim added as he highlighted the only thing in Dhawan’s favour at the moment.
“It would be difficult for Dhawan to come back into this side. I still think that he should be given one more opportunity because he is a big player with experience. Have to see what the selectors and the team management think. I don’t think Delhi will qualify for the knockouts, so Dhawan has to prove by scoring runs and he only has one more match to do so.”
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