Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg said that India opener Shikhar Dhawan is unlucky to miss out on Team India’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The left-hander was not included in the 15-member squad for the mega event in the UAE.
Dhawan had done well in the 2020 IPL and also won the Orange Cap, which was held at the same set of venues where the marquee event is going to take place. While his strike rate has improved a lot over the last few months, his conservative approach in the shortest format saw his exclusion as well.
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While speaking about his omission from the team on his YouTube channel, Brad Hogg said: “Shikhar Dhawan could be a little bit unlucky here, he started to really come off age, he improved his strike-rate for the last couple of months. But I just think that he is a little bit too slow with the way that the T20 format has moved along.”
Despite being one of the key players for India in ICC tournaments since his debut, Shikhar Dhawan has not been able to cement his place when it comes to the T20 format. He was dropped for the semi-final match in the 2016 edition for Ajinkya Rahane like in the 2014 edition as well.
🇮🇳 India have named a 15-member squad for the ICC Men's #T20WorldCup 2021.
Details 👇https://t.co/CIjBwzspI3
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) September 8, 2021
Brad Hogg also stated that England has set a lot of aggressive opening batting options and India need to follow them as well.
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“You need those aggressive players at the top with a high strike rate to get India off to a good start and when you are competing with the likes of England, who are really dominant in that top order and very aggressive and get a high run rate as early as possible and keep that momentum going. Also, you’re probably going to be chasing high totals here. So someone like a Shikhar Dhawan in the UAE might be a little conservative for that particular format. So that’s why he may have missed out,” Brad Hogg concluded.
