Former India wicket-keeper Saba Karim reckons that the inclusion of Shikhar Dhawan in the Indian ODI squad for the upcoming South Africa tour doesn’t make much of a sense. He reckons that Team India already has a lot of candidates from the opening place.  Dhawan, who has lost his place in the Test team, seems to be slowly and steadily falling out of contention from India’s limited-overs set up in the recent past, having missed out on being named in the 2021 T20 World Cup squad. 

India preferred the duo of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for the T20 World Cup, whereas, with youngsters Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw, and Venkatesh Iyer proving their mettle in recent times, it remains to be seen whether or not will Shikhar Dhawan will be able to retain his place in the Indian limited-overs squad. 

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During a recent chat on the Khelneeti podcast, Saba Karim said, “Even if Dhawan is there in the squad, will he be part of the playing XI? KL 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? I don’t see the point of his inclusion, what is the need?” 

Shikhar Dhawan played his last ODI against Sri Lanka earlier this year when he led a second-string team as the main squad was in the United Kingdom for the five-match Test series against England. However, he has not been in the best of forms ever since then, as he has only managed to score manage only 207 runs in eight innings in the second leg of 2021 IPL.

Talking about the same, Saba Karim said, “The only thing possible is the left-hand-right-hand combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. It has been a formidable partnership as well.”

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He further added, “It would be difficult for 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.”