“Shikhar Dhawan deserved a place in the Indian team” – Suresh Raina hits out at the selectors
Former India batter Suresh Raina has questioned the national selectors over the omission of Shikhar Dhawan from the T20I squad for the South Africa series. With the Indian Premier League 2022 nearing its conclusion, the focus is slowly shifting to the international cricket and the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held later this year.
India are all set to go toe-to-toe against the Proteas in the five-match T20I series a few days after the IPL 2022 final. On Sunday, the BCCI announced the squad for the same series. The selectors have decided to rest the skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Meanwhile, KL Rahul will be leading the squad filled with youngsters in the home series.
The key takeaways from the squad selection were the comeback of the veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to the Men in Blue after a gap of three overs. Meanwhile, there is no place for another veteran Shikhar Dhawan. The left-handed opener wasn’t a part of the Indian T20I squad in the T20 World Cup last year but he returned to the Indian side against Sri Lanka.
Now, the former India cricketer Suresh Raina has questioned the selectors over the exclusion of the senior opening batter. He went on to assert that every skipper wants a player like Dhawan, who has been consistently scoring runs.
“Shikhar Dhawan should have been selected for the Indian team – Suresh Raina”
Speaking to fellow experts on the Star Sports Suresh Raina said, “Obviously, Shikhar would have been disappointed. Every captain wants a player like him in the team. He is a fun-loving person who brightens up the environment. And he has always scored runs – be it domestic, international or T20. If you’ve brought Dinesh Karthik back into the team, Shikhar Dhawan deserved a place too. He has performed for the last 3-4 years and has scored runs non-stop. Somewhere deep down, he must be sad.”
For the unversed, Shikhar Dhawan has had another decent season with the bat as the left-handed southpaw 460 runs in 14 matches at an average of 38.33 while representing Punjab Kings.
