Former India player Wasim Jaffer has said that despite Shikhar Dhawan’s below-par performances with the bat in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, he will be there in India’s 50-over squad for the next series. However, he also admitted that the veteran left-hander will need to keep scoring consistently to be ahead of the competition from the younger generation. Dhawan, 36, led India in the ODI series against South Africa, where they won by a 2-1 margin. However, he had a poor series, registering scores of four, 13 and eight.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Jaffer said while discussing the topic: “I am sure Dhawan is part of the original top six (in ODIs). He’s got 17 hundreds in one-dayers, so he’ll be an automatic choice. But there are few contenders waiting.”Shubman Gill is one of them; Shreyas Iyer has put in a great performance. Suryakumar Yadav can also fit in the middle-order. Dhawan had a dull series. He did well as a captain, but he needs to put up the numbers as a batsman. The challenge for Dhawan is he doesn’t play T20Is and, obviously, he doesn’t play Tests. So there are very limited opportunities for him. He needs to keep himself ready for all the 50-over matches. Even in the last series, he looked a little bit rusty.”
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Shikhar Dhawan had a successful series against West Indies, scoring two fifties in three ODIs. He also smashed an unbeaten 81 in the first ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare as well. However, he has reached the 40-run mark only once in his last five ODI matches as well. While reviewing the performance of Team India’s young players in the ODI series against South Africa, Jaffer added that the hosts can take away a lot of positives from the series as well.
He shared that youngsters can easily challenge the big names if the opportunity comes in the near future.
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“Shreyas Iyer was the highest scorer in the series. Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan did well. Shubman Gill did not score a lot of runs, but he looked the part in all the matches that he played. The young guns are probably ready to challenge the big boys,” Wasim Jaffer concluded.
