“He silently did his job”: Ashwin all praises for Shikhar Dhawan for performing under the shadows of Kohli and Rohit

Shikhar Dhawan used to be Team India’s mainstay in the limited-overs format. He, alongside Rohit Sharma, posed one of the best opening partnerships India had seen recently in Cricket. However, the time hasn’t been all rosy for the explosive Indian batter lately.

Dhawan is nowhere to be seen on Indian Cricket’s team sheet. The tables have indeed turned come the new year. In 2022, Team India played a total of 24 ODIs, out of which Dhawan featured in 22, the most. He also acted as the captain in 9 of them, one more than the regular captain, Rohit Sharma, and two more than the Vice Captain, KL Rahul.

Shikhar Dhawan was vital for Team India in ODIs

Shikhar Dhawan enjoyed a long spell in the absence of Kohli and Rohit in those said 24 ODIs in 2022. And now, he is playing second fiddle to the heroics of Shubman Gill, India’s new hard-hitting opening sensation. Dhawan had already lost his place in the Indian T20 side. Quickly, the board seems to be moving on from Dhawan in ODIs too.

The batter has done more than his share for Indian Cricket without big guns like Rohit and Kohli. Dhawan’s teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, however, is all praises for the batter. He understands that his current state must not take away even a bit of credit from Dhawan.

“Only when the Top 3 failed, we had problems in the past. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. We talk a lot about Rohit and Kohli, but Dhawan is a stalwart. He was silently doing his job. Will his place be a big void to fill for Team India? ” the veteran spinner said on his YouTube Channel.

Ashwin hinted that Dhawan’s absence might also result from the heroics posed by Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan. Both youngsters have smashed double hundreds in ODIs recently. The veteran spinner remarked that the focus should be on grooming impact players.

“Should we go back to Shikhar Dhawan, or should we groom Ishan Kishan, who has just scored a double hundred? Instead of backing a player on the basis of one huge score, we should see what the team requires. Which character will deliver under pressure? Which character will serve us for a long time? Ishan Kishan was dropped after a double hundred, but Team India has seen Shubman Gill’s run in the past. He has scored hefty runs and has been the most consistent batter for the team over a period of time. He also plays the slog sweep and the traditional sweep, can cut and pull pacers. Smart batting, quality batting and acceleration towards the end. He accelerated beautifully in the last four overs and hit that 200 in the Hyderabad ODI,” Ashwin further remarked.