Former India captain, Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his doubts over Shikhar Dhawan’s return in the T20 squad ahead of the World Cup in Australia this year. The India great believes the southpaw is unlikely to work his way back into contention and feature at this year’s Men’s T20 world tournament.
“No. I don’t see his name popping up,” Gavaskar said on air during the recently concluded India-South Africa T20I series.
“If it had to pop up, it would have been in this squad (to play Ireland). A lot of guys have gone to England and he could have been in this squad. If he is not in this squad, I don’t see him ending in the mix (for T20 World Cup).”
Dhawan last played a T20I for India back in July 2021, when he led a young side in the three T20Is in Sri Lanka. The 36-year old has only featured in six T20Is for India since 2020 and has been replaced in India’s T20 lineup by KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan for the opening spot alongside captain Rohit Sharma.
Meanwhile in the last three IPL seasons, Dhawan has scored 1,665 runs. He has come under scrutiny for his strike rate, which was just touching 122 this season.
Most of the India squad that featured in the South Africa series will travel to Ireland this week for the two-match T20I series while another contingent of players is already in England prepping up for the one-off Test in early July. While Dhawan has been sidelined from both T20 and Test squads, he still remains a key member of India’s ODI lineup and was the highest run scorer in the three-match ODI clean sweep in South Africa earlier this year.