Former Indian selector Saba Karim has opened up about the place of Shikhar Dhawan in the ODI side. He said that if the team wants to go with the old approach of scorning 275-300 then the southpaw can play till the World Cup. But if the team is aiming to keep a par score of 325-350, then there is no place for the senior opener as he can’t big knock at a strike rate of 130-140 in a 350-run game.
“If we have decided that our par score will be 325-350, there is no place for Dhawan,” Saba Karim on his future
Senior Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan is under the firing line for his consistent failures batting at the top of the order of late. Not only the runs have dried up for him but also he’s playing with a poor strike rate.
The series against Bangladesh was dreadful for him as failed in all three games and registered low strings of scores 7,8 and 3 in the three matches. He has been poor in the format this year as well as in 22 ODIs he has 688 runs at an avg of 34.4 and an SR of 74.21 with a dot ball percentage of 60. His average in powerplay overs 1-10 also has been underwhelming at 32.9 and his strike rate is just 66.9 this year.
Also with Shubman Gill consistently scoring runs with the pace at the top and Ishan Kishan making his case strong with the fastest double century in ODIs, clouds are really hovering over the place of Dhawan in the team.
Dinesh Karthik said, "Shubman Gill has been doing so well. If Rohit Sharma is available for the Sri Lankan series, somebody like Shikhar Dhawan might miss out. That could be a sad end to a glorious career". (To Cricbuzz).
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 11, 2022
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Former selector Saba Karim feels that calls related to Dhawan’s future will depend on the team management. Speaking to Sony Sports, he said: “It will depend on the team management, that what sort of cricket they are want to play. If the team management still believes that 275-300 is their aim, then you need Shikhar Dhawan because he is still that kind of a player.
“It is a different thing that he has not scored runs in this series. But if you give him an opportunity again and tell him that we have to score 275-300 only, Shikhar Dhawan’s place will be there till the World Cup. But if we have decided that our par score will be 325-350, there is no place for Dhawan.”
“If you expect that Shikhar Dhawan will play a big knock at a strike rate of 130-140 in a 350-run game, it is not going to happen,” Saba Karim
Saba Karim further went on to say that Dhawan doesn’t have the ability to play at a strike rate of 130-140 in a 350-run game. He feels that team is two to three years behind in white-ball cricket. He said:
“So a lot will depend on the selectors and the team management, the captain, that what expectation you have. If you expect that Shikhar Dhawan will play a big knock at a strike rate of 130-140 in a 350-run game, it is not going to happen. I feel in the coming times, we have to achieve a lot. I feel we are two to three years behind in white-ball cricket and to get there we will need new players, players like Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Prithvi Shaw.”
Notably, has played 167 ODIs and has 6793 runs to his name. With the amount of experience he has, it is likely that he will be given few more games before a call on his future is taken.
