India have announced their squad for the 2023 Asian Games, and Shikhar Dhawan, who was expected to lead the side, has not been named, giving rise to speculation about his international future.
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Dhawan has been the go-to guy to lead second-string India sides in the last few years. With the 2023 Asian Games’ schedule clashing with the ODI World Cup, India have been forced to name a squad devoid of first-choice players for the former competition.
Dhawan was the expected candidate to lead India in the Asian Games, considering he has been displaced from the ODI side by Shubman Gill, whose meteoric rise as an ODI batter in the last year has made him undroppable.
However, he has not been named in the squad for the Asian Games, with Ruturaj Gaikwad being given the captaincy. This can either imply that the selectors still have him in mind for the World Cup, or that this might be the end of the road for him as far as international cricket is concerned.
Dhawan’s downturn
Dhawan last played an ODI in December 2022 against Bangladesh. In the three-match series, he scored 18 runs and never crossed ten. He is yet to play an ODI this year whereas Gill has taken the world by storm in ODI cricket, scoring 624 runs from nine games at an average of 78 and a strike rate of 117.5, including a double century against New Zealand.
The only two backup middle-order batters currently in the ODI setup are Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav. Yadav has not impressed in the 50-over format so far. How does this all fit into Dhawan being in contention?
The selectors might be thinking of using Gill as a stop-gap middle-order solution in case the need arises, which opens up a slot at the top, paving the way for Dhawan. It’s a long shot, but if that’s the plan, it’s a far-sighted one, something that India missed in the 2019 World Cup with respect to their middle order.
Or maybe the end of the road?
Or the Asian Games snub might just be that – a snub. And potentially a final one at that. Dhawan has been playing only one format for the last two years now, and he’s found himself dropped from that as well. He hasn’t played international cricket this year. With the rise of youngsters like Gill, Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Gaikwad, India now have loads of top-order batters to choose from in white-ball cricket. Whether Dhawan is still one of them or not may only truly be found when India announce their World Cup squad.
