The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to announce the ODI team for the tour of South Africa (SA) in the next few days. The selectors will have their eyes on the ongoing domestic tournament Vijay Hazare Trophy which has experienced and young guns participating in it.
It is expected that the players who will perform well in this tournament can be included in the ODI team for the tour of South Africa. But for someone like Shikhar Dhawan, the Vijay Hazare is turning out to be a long nightmare. Dhawan has played five games in this domestic 50-over tournament so far, in which only 56 runs have come off his bat. So far, Dhawan's scores are – 0, 12, 14, 18 and 12.
Saba Karim's views
Earlier former Indian selector Saba Karim had expressed his concern over Dhawan's place in the side. Despite a good run in IPL 2021, the left-handed opener has not played a single international game since he led a second-string team against Sri Lanka tour in June.
“Even if Dhawan is there in the squad, will he be part of the playing XI? K. L. 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," Saba opined on his Youtube channel.
With players like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer firing on all cylinders in the List A format, Dhawan's place in the ODI side may be in jeopardy.
“It would be difficult for Shikhar 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," Karim added.
No second chance?
Despite the credential and experience, the time is ticking away for 36-year-old Dhawan, who was once India’s celebrated opener in white-ball cricket. He did not even get a chance in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2021. The Delhi-born batter was expected to make a mark in the domestic tournament but a string of bad performances will give selectors headache.
