“It was Rahul Dravid’s decision” – a BCCI official on Shikhar Dhawan’s exclusion from the T20I squad for the South Africa series

In a major revelation, a top BCCI official has revealed that it was the head coach Rahul Dravid’s call to exclude Shikhar Dhawan from the T20I series squad for South Africa series.

The Indian selectors recently announced the T20I squad for the Proteas series scheduled to begin on the 9th of June. While many youngsters including, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh earned their maiden national call-up, some old warhorses, including Dinesh Karthik and Yuzvendra Chahal also made their return to the Indian squad.

However, a major talking point from the team selection was the non-inclusion of the left-handed opener, Shikhar Dhawan, in the Indian team despite having another solid season with the bat in the IPL 2022. The left-handed southpaw last represented India in the Sri Lanka series but he wasn’t a part of the India squad in the last T20 World Cup.

Ahead of the team selection, there were multiple reports that Shikhar Dhawan is likely to lead the Indian side against South Africa and then his omission from the squad came as a shock.

Now, a top BCCI official has revealed that Rahul Dravid took the decision regarding Dhawan and he also informed the same to the left-handed opener.

Rahul Dravid took the tough call to drop Shikhar Dhawan

“Shikhar has been a great servant of Indian cricket for over a decade. But in T20s, you have to give chances to youngsters who have been doing well. Rahul had to make the tough call and we all agreed. Shikhar was informed by Rahul before the team was announced on Sunday,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.IN.

For the unversed, Shikhar Dhawan finished the league stage of the IPL 2022 as the 4th highest run-getter of the tournament while playing for Punjab Kings. The left-handed opener amassed 460 runs in 14 matches averaging 38.33.