BCCI on Sunday announced the 18-member Indian squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa starting on June 9. While many senior players like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rohit Sharma were rested for the series, two uncapped cricketers were given a chance in the form of Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh. Regular skipper Rohit Sharma has been rested, and in his place, KL Rahul will be leading the squad, while the team’s vice-captain will be Rishabh Pant.

The veteran Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan, who has done pretty well for his IPL team Punjab Kings in IPL 2022, was ignored by the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee for the T20I series against South Africa. Former Indian cricketer, Suresh Raina has now come out in support of Dhawan and termed his exclusion from the IND-SA series as disappointing.

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Suresh Raina reckons that Dhawan will be saddened after him not being considered for selection as the veteran has been scoring runs recently.

During a show on Star Sports, Suresh Raina said, “Obviously, Shikhar would have been disappointed. Every captain wants a player like him in the team. He is a fun-loving person who brightens up the environment. And he has always scored runs – be it domestic, international, or T20.”

He further added, “If you’ve brought Dinesh Karthik back into the team, Shikhar Dhawan deserved a place too. He has performed runs for the last 3-4 years and has scored runs non-stop. Somewhere deep down, he must be sad.”

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In IPL 2022, Shikhar Dhawan has amassed 460 runs in 14 matches, compared to 587 in the last season and 618 runs a year before that. Nevertheless, Shikhar Dhawan’s name is frequently dropped from the Indian T20 team.