New Delhi: The Indian men's team for much-awaited five-match T20 series against South Africa has been announced by Board of Control for Cricket in India. Chetan Sharma-led selectors decided to give opportunities to young players like Umran Malik and Harshdeep Singh but senior in-form opener Shikhar Dhawan's name missing from Indian squad has definitely taken fans and cricket pundits by surprise.
Earlier it was being reported that in absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and other regular senior players, either Shikhar Dhawan or Hardik Pandya could be made captain of a second-string India team for South Africa series. Surprisingly, Dhawan was not even selected for the squad. It seems Dhawan is undoubtedly BCCI's number choice as an opener in ODIs but the case is totally different when it comes to T20Is.
Now it is being reported that team India head coach Rahul Dravid informed Shikhar Dhawan about his 'non-selection' even before the team was officially anounced by BCCI on Sunday.
“Shikhar has been a great servant of Indian cricket for over a decade. But in T20s, you have to give chances to youngsters who have been doing well. Rahul had to make the tough call and we all agreed. Shikhar was informed by Rahul before the team was announced on Sunday,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying by InsideSport.
In IPL 2022, Dhawan scored 460 runs in 14 matches, compared to 587 in the last season and 618 runs a year before that.
Indian squad for T20Is vs South Africa: KL Rahul (Captain), Rituraj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (Vice-Captain), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik