There was a lot of talk around the chance of the veteran Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan making a comeback to the Indian T20I side for the South Africa series as regulars Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma were expected to be rested in order to prepare and fly to England early to play the cancelled fifth Test match. Dhawan had the numbers to back him. The southpaw notched up more than 450 runs in a season for the 7th year in a row in the IPL.
In fact, Shikhar Dhawan did well for Punjab Kings (PBKS) his IPL 2022 tally of 460 runs in 14 matches was his lowest in 6 years. He mostly ends up scoring more than 500 runs in an IPL season. Reports had even suggested that the left-hander was in line along with Hardik Pandya to be appointed skipper for the T20I series but the selectors’ decision to keep KL Rahul in the squad perhaps changed the scheme of things as he will be leading the 18-member India squad.
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A top BCCI official, however, revealed that head coach Rahul Dravid had decided to look beyond Dhawan and the selectors agreed to it. “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 told InsideSport.IN.
With less than five months for the T20 World Cup in Australia this year, Shikhar Dhawan’s exclusion from the Indian side was clear indication that the selectors will not be considering the team management’s scheme of things for the marquee event.
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The Indian team for the South Africa series did not have any major surprises apart from the exclusions of Dhawan and Rahul Tripathi. Young pacers Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik have been rewarded 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.
