Chief selector explains Shikhar Dhawan's exclusion from India's T20 World Cup squad

As India announced their T20 World Cup squad on Wednesday, 8 September 2021, there were some big names who were excluded with Shikhar Dhawan not finding a place in the squad. In accordance with this India cricket team’s chief selector, Chetan Sharma revealed that the decision was made to offer Dhawan some relaxation.

Shikhar Dhawan who has been consistently performing for India in limited-overs format was ignored in the selection. However, Chetan Sharma maintained that the left-handed opener continues to be a key part of India's limited-overs setup, but the need of the hour was to look at other players and give him some break, and the left-hander will stay in the circuit.

In his first virtual press meet, Chetan said, “Shikhar Dhawan is a very important player for us, he was the captain in Sri Lanka. What discussion happened I cannot disclose. He is important and he is there in the loop. But the need of the hour was that we look at other players and give Shikhar Dhawan some rest, otherwise he is an important player and he will be back very soon,” which took on late Wednesday night.

Shikhar Dhawan who captained India in the recently concluded Sri Lankan tour is known as a 'Big-Match Player'. He is recognised for his ability to generate runs in important games, such as the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia, the 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2017 Champions Trophy. He ended up being the top run-scorer in all three tournaments and received the Player of the Tournament award in the 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy.

Another reason for his exclusion would be his approach towards the T20 format. The southpaw often starts his innings in a slow manner. He takes his own time and builds his innings gradually, which is advantageous in the 50-over ODI format but not so helpful in the 20-over T20 format. Thus, his strike rate is very low which puts pressure on the upcoming batsmen. There are already three-four openers in the team in the form of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Virat Kohli who can open as well as seen in the IPL.

Speaking about the opening position, Chetan told, “We have three openers -- Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, who can bat as an opener and can also fit into the middle order. So Kishan is giving us a lot of options, if needed he can open like he has done in ODIs (in Sri Lanka) when he got a fifty and he can also play in middle order because he is a good player of spin.”

He continued, “It is upto the team management if they want Kohli to open the batting, but as of now we have picked three openers. Virat is an asset for the team. When he bats in the middle order, the team plays around him. "He has a brilliant record in T20s batting in the middle order. But as I said, it all depends on what the situation is at that point of time."

India's T20 World Cup squad

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Stand-by: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur

Other changes in the Indian squad

Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion was another surprise in the 15-member squad announced on Wednesday. The leggie was ignored by the selectors as another leg-spinner Rahul Chahar took his place. Ravichandran Ashwin will be making a return in the limited-overs format after 4 years and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy who made an impact in the IPL was also included.

Meanwhile, former Indian national cricket team captain MS Dhoni will join the squad in a mentorship role. India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.

Image credits: PTI