The underfiring opener Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t done much with the bat since the start of 2019. He is going through a drought of a run since the Asia Cup 2018 in UAE and has managed only two fifty-plus scores since then, which came against New Zealand during the five-match One-Day International series. India will be keen to see him among the runs before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England.
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra nodded in yes about the lack of runs from Dhawan’s willow. His words backed by another former Delhi player and Coach Vijay Dahiya, who is confident Dhawan will bounce back soon.
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“There is no denying Dhawan is going through a bad patch but with only three international matches left, I don’t see any drastic changes happening,” Chopra was quoted as saying by India Today.
“If he has scored 5000 plus ODI runs (5199 from 125 games), it means that he has been around for a reasonable period of time, seen ups and downs to have scored that many runs. His record in multi-nation tournaments (World Cup, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup) is fabulous, so it could well be a matter of time that he is back in form,” Chopra further added.
Chopra believes Shikhar should have opted to participate for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy rather than staying back in Australia after the T20I series. It could have helped him to regain his form before the three-match One-Day International series Down Under.
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He quoted “He exactly didn’t set the stage on fire against West Indies at home and since he was not in Test side against Australia, he could have come back and played Ranji Trophy. It would have helped him as well as our domestic cricket. But that didn’t happen.”
The left-handed opener registered a golden duck in the first ODI against Australia, while he managed just 21 in the second game at Nagpur. If failed in the Ranchi ODI, team management would be eager to give a go to KL Rahul in the last two games.
