Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan is eyeing to cement his place in India’s T20I squad for the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE. Dhawan has said he will try to perform well in Sri Lanka T20Is in order to strengthen his contendership for the global tournament.

India will lock horns against Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series from Sunday. Team India will try to leave the defeat in the third ODI behind and will come out with all guns blazing.

Also Read: Shikhar Dhawan is happy to see youngsters making their debuts

“It is very important. Of course, any international match has its own impact, and whenever you perform internationally it makes a huge impact. So, on a personal note, I’m really looking forward to perform over here and make my place stronger for World Cup contendership. Then we’ll see how it goes in the future,” Dhawan said on the eve of the first T20I in Colombo on Sunday.

The stand-in skipper mentioned India will not take Sri Lanka lightly especially after they won the final ODI by three wickets.

Also Read: Shikhar Dhawan celebrates winning the toss with a thigh-five celebration

“I think the competition will be good. You saw the Sri Lankan team improve a lot in the last two (ODI) matches. They played really well and they are a good team, with a lot of youngsters. We’ve both already played three matches now, so both teams know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s a good thing, and it will add to the challenge,” Dhawan added.

Shikhar Dhawan has been in terrific form in the Indian Premier League recently and amassed 521 and 618 runs in previous seasons respectively. He notched up back-to-back hundreds in the IPL 2020 in the UAE. He was scoring runs for fun in the IPL 2021 as well before the league came to an early halt.

Dhawan will try to consolidate his chance at top of the order, where KL Rahul can give him tough competition. Also, Indian skipper Virat Kohli also expressed his desire to open the batting in T20Is along with Rohit Sharma.