Ahead of BCCI selection meeting on Sunday, Rahul Dravid, selectors, and captain Rohit Sharma discussed the potential candidates for the upcoming limited over series.
Dhawan will not be a part of T20s anymore
Dravid informed the selectors in the presence of BCCI secretary Jay Shah that the team should move on and look at youngsters with the T20 World Cup on the horizon.
Rahul Dravid said he would make the call and not the selectors. Dravid personally called Dhawan informing him that the team will look at youngsters in T20s instead of him.
A top BCCI official, however, revealed that it was head coach Rahul Dravid’s decision to look beyond Dhawan and the selectors agreed to it. The former India captain had also informed Dhawan about his non-selection before the selectors met on Sunday, said the official.
“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 was quoted as saying in the report.
“The plan has been simple. When you have Ruturaj, Ishan, KL besides Sanju amongst many other top-order batter, it gets difficult. Rahul has a clear idea of what he wants. Of course, we all have respect for Shikhar and that is why he made a call to inform him that, he will not be in T20 plans anymore,” added the official.
Dhawan would think that he still had plenty to offer to the Indian team and he’s totally right about it. But as a coach it was Dravid’s duty to not let emotions get in the way and make some tough calls.
With less than five months for the T20 World Cup in Australia this year, Dhawan’s exclusion from the Indian side was clear indication that the left-hander is currently not in the team management’s scheme of things for the showpiece event.
While age may not be on his side, Shikhar Dhawan has done everything he can to be in India’s T20 squad. He is the only batsman in IPL to score 400+ runs for seven consecutive seasons. He has maintained a healthy strike rate of 125+.
- Dhawan is Punjab Kings’ leading scorer with 460 runs in 14 games.
- He has scored three half-centuries and has managed a decent strike rate of 122.67.
- He has averaged 38.33 in those matches.
- He has been given the moniker of Mr. Consistent for scoring 400+ runs in seven consecutive IPL seasons.
- In IPL 2021 too he was one of the leading scorers.
The Indian squad for the South Africa series did not have any major surprises apart from the exclusion of Dhawan.
Young pacers Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik earned their maiden India call-ups for their stunning returns in the IPL while Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Dinesh Karthik made a comeback to the Indian side.
India’s T20I squad for South Africa Tour
KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
