Veteran India opener Shikhar Dhawan (AP Image)
The Indian openers failed to get their groove on after being dismissed cheaply by Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf.
India could be missing the experience of Shikhar Dhawan who is one of India’s best opening batters since 2013. The left-handed opening batter is currently the skipper of the IPL side, Punjab Kings but finds himself out of the conversation regarding being selected in the Indian side.
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The Indian selectors currently prefer the likes of Shubman Gill and KL Rahul over the left-handed opening batter.
Fans have been vocal about the non-selection of Dhawan in the current Asia Cup squad.
One of the biggest factors for Shikhar Dhawan to be among the best opening batters is his knack for scoring well for India in ICC Tournaments. Taking into consideration that the Asia Cup and the upcoming World Cup are taking place in the ODI format, Dhawan holds the record for scoring 537 runs in 10 matches in the ICC ODI World Cup. His record in the Champions trophy is also phenomenal having scored over 700 runs in 10 games in the tournament. He also scored 534 runs in 9 matches in the ODI format of the Asia Cup as well.
The current Indian opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill have been struggling against the likes of the star-studded Pakistan bowling line-up consisting of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf.
In the Asia Cup 2023, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill struggled against Pakistan in their first game in the group stage. Shaheen Afridi cleaned up the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for a mere 11(22) and 4(7). Team India had won the toss and chose to bat first likely considering the overcast conditions and the Duckworth-Lewis coming into play provided the match could get shortened.
Fans have been critical of the non-selection of Dhawan in the squad for the Asia Cup 2023, and believe that his experience could have been beneficial for the Indian side. Shaheen was able to take advantage of the overcast conditions and use the swing available to break the stumps and dismiss Rohit and Virat.
The addition of Dhawan could have been an ideal left-right combination which have thrown off the opposition’s bowling attack with the change in angles. Currently, the only left-handed batters in the Indian side facing Pakistan are Ishan Kishan and Ravindra Jadeja who are both middle-order batters.
Fans have been extremely vocal about their unhappiness with Dhawan missing out on the Asia Cup squad and potentially the World Cup squad as well. The Chief Selector, Ajit Agarkar had mentioned that the World Cup Squad will be in and around the current Asia Cup 2023 squad.
One fan believes that Dhawan is better than Shubman Gill and he shared his thoughts on X (formerly known as Twitter)
Another fan also shared a meme that called Dhawan as the batter took away swing bowlers.
This particular fan credited Gill for being a decent opener but believes that Dhawan has done much more in the field.
The addition of Dhawan could have been an ideal left-right combination which have thrown off the opposition’s bowling attack with the change in angles. Currently, the only left-handed batters in the Indian side facing Pakistan are Ishan Kishan and Ravindra Jadeja who are both middle-order batters.