Shikhar Dhawan was the biggest name absent from India’s ODI squad for the home series against Sri Lanka. Given that there’s a World Cup next year in India, the senior batsman was expected to retain his spot as Dhawan is a proven performer in ICC events. But Shubman Gill’s form and Ishan Kishan’s double-century made the selectors impossible to ignore them.
Dhawan, who captained the ODI team on the New Zealand tour last month, had to make way for Gill, who was rested for the Bangladesh ODI series. Despite being dropped, the doors might not be completely closed on Dhawan and a great run in IPL can see him make his return.
This was the first time since 2013 that Dhawan lost his place in the ODI team. As per Cricbuzz, he was on the cusp of losing his spot early in 2021. Cricbuzz has reported that Virat Kohli fought hard for Dhawan to be retained in the ODI team for the series against England last year. Kohli was the captain of Team India back then. He lost the top job in December last year.
Dhawan proved his captain right and scored 169 runs in 3 ODIs to emerge as the 3rd highest run-scorer in the series. He also went on to lead the Men in Blue in the absence of regular captains over the next 16 months. But Dhawan’s struggles with the bat saw him being dropped.
The 37-year-old scored 688 runs in 22 ODIs he played in 2022. He averaged 34.40 and failed to breach the three-figure mark even once. Dhawan managed scores of 7, 8 and 3 in three ODIs against Bangladesh.
There is no white-ball domestic competition lined up till IPL 2023 and Dhawan will spend some time away from senior cricket. He last played a Ranji Trophy game in December 2019.
