Shikhar Dhawan shares about the moment he realised he would be dropped from team India

Star India batter Shikhar Dhawan is currently out of the national side due to a dip in the form. The left-hander has been phenomenal for India in the 50-over format and was looking certain for the upcoming World Cup before being dropped from the team. In 2022, Dhawan not only scored some decent runs but also led the national team when senior players were absent. However, after a poor series in Bangladesh Dhawan was replaced by youngsters like Ishan Kishan and Shubhman Gill.

In 2022 Dhawan played 22 ODIs and scored more than 600 runs in them with a decent strike rate of 70. However, his performance was outplayed by Gill and Kishan who hammered the same number of runs in fewer matches giving a more energetic option to team management. Meanwhile, in a recent interview, Dhawan reacted to being dropped from the team.

Dhawan in an interview with Aaj Tak revealed that he was assured by team management to focus on ODIs World Cup. He also said that the new team management of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid backed him a lot but young guns performed better than him. Dhawan said, “When Rohit took over the captaincy he along with Rahul Dravid backed me enough. They told me they wanted me to focus on my cricket and that my vision should be the next World Cup.”

“2022 was very good for me, I was consistent in ODIs. But there is this young guy who has been doing well in two formats, and when my form dipped in a series or two then they gave a chance to Shubman and he has lived up to their expectation. We are used to such situations. This is not something new in cricket. Or this happened just with me, plenty of others have met with the same fate.”

Shikhar Dhawan is set to lead Punjab in the Indian T20 League

Further, Dhawan spoke about Ishan Kishan’s amazing double hundred against Bangladesh and his being out of the team. Dhawan said, “There are times when you play well throughout the year and then your form drops for one month or two, sometimes that becomes bigger than your performance throughout the year. When a captain, coach, and selector take a decision they put plenty of thought into it. When Ishan Kishan slammed a double century against Bangladesh, then for a moment I thought I could be out of the team,” said Dhawan.

Notably, Dhawan’s comeback will mostly depend upon his performance in the upcoming Indian T20 League. In the 16th edition of the tournament, Dhawan is set to lead the Punjab franchise replacing Mayank Agarwal.