Former England international Mark Butcher believes that the T20 WC exclusion of Shikhar Dhawan, who has been in tremendous form, could be because India has moved on to the younger players.
Shikhar Dhawan is currently the Orange Cap holder for topping the run-scoring chart in the ongoing Indian Premier League season. Despite his magnificent run of form in franchise cricket, the opening batter was snubbed from the upcoming T20 World Cup. Dhawan’s exclusion raised quite a lot of eyebrows from all the corners.
“When Shikhar Dhawan was a regular feature in the Indian team in T20 cricket, his strike rate was always a little bit on the low side for an opener in T20Is. And in recent years, since he has been out of the team, his strike rate has actually gone up. He has started to play a lot more aggressively,”
Butcher quoted to Cricket.com.
Butcher was spot on in his observation. If you look at his international T20 career, he has scored 1759 runs in 66 innings at an average of 27.9 and strike rate of 126.36. In the IPL, he had never struck at 130+ in any of the seasons up until the 2018 season.
He scored 497 runs in that season striking at 136.9, followed by 521 runs in 2019 at 135.7 SR. Dhawan had his best IPL season in 2020, where he amassed 618 runs averaging 44.1 at a terrific strike rate of 144.7. In the ongoing edition, he has 422 runs to his name at 52.8 average while scoring at 131.9.
Butcher believes that while Dhawan has been exceptional in recent times, the Indian management might be looking to invest in younger players, keeping the future in mind.
“He might feel that he is better suited to play for India in the T20 World Cup now than he was then. But perhaps that ship has sailed. Perhaps India has decided to move on, move along with younger players. Not least his opening partner Prithvi Shaw and they are looking elsewhere.”
