Dhawan has struggled hard in eight of his last nine ODIs. Additionally, the southpaw struck with a dated approach, which proved detrimental to the team during Powerplay overs.
It’s not always about intention, but also about the inability to force the pace with a limited range of moves to choose from. Shubman Gill or a Kishan are more innovative in the T20 era.
Although no date has been given, the BCCI will hold a team performance review meeting and discuss the roadmap with Head Coach Dravid and NCA Chief VVS Laxman on the path to follow.
As reported by PTI during the T20 World Cup in Australia, a source has confirmed that the phase-out process for senior players will start from next year.
“A call on Shikhar’s future will only be taken after the appointment of the new selection committee. But the opinions of head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma cannot be ignored,” a source told PTI. BCCI senior source briefed on developments on condition of anonymity.
The main issue with Dhawan has been a sharp drop in his strike rate from over 100 until the 2019 World Cup to a dismal 75 in 2022.
After Ishan Kishan’s double cent and above all, the freshness he brought to the approach, will certainly make the team’s management think about sensitive selection issues.
It is not easy to discount a player who has played 167 ODIs and is currently third (6793) in the list of current Indian run-getters behind Rohit (9454) and Virat Kohli (12471).
There is a school of thought that Dhawan will receive at least the last six ODIs in January against Sri Lanka and New Zealand and then take a call before the Australian ODIs at the end of March.
But the counter-argument to that is what happens when Shubman Gill, who has been one of ODI’s most consistent hitters for the past six months, is back in the ODI fold in January .
For some strange reason, the outgoing committee led by Chetan Sharma decided to drop Gill from Bangladesh ODIs despite the fact that the young striker didn’t get much work as he wasn’t even in the Cup squad. Asia or the T20 World Cup.
There were no test matches after the one against England in July.
When hitters like Gill and Kishan wait in the wings, it’s hard to keep them in the dugout too long. Also, Dhawan, Rohit and Kohli cannot play in the same ODI XI, just like Rohit, KL Rahul and Kohli cannot be in the top three of T20I.
Kohli, it has been observed lately, likes to play the anchor role most often with a designated enforcer on the other end doing the front loading or heavy lifting.
Even skipper Rohit could play his own attacking game if a player like Gill or Kishan holds the fort at the other end.
Dhawan also plays a style of play where he gets off to a cautious start and only accelerates deep into the middle overs, making up for consumed point balls.
This kind of conservative style has been hurting India for some time and England have shown that the time has come for a change of approach.
It would therefore be increasingly difficult for Dhawan to retain his place in the ODI.
Another aspect that would bother makers is that aside from ODIs, it does not play any formats. Despite playing a domestic T20 (Syed Mushtaq Ai Trophy) and two Over-50 matches (Vijay Hazare), Dhawan hasn’t played a top class match in the past four years.
“There is no substitute for playing time. Do you mean that Shikhar will start playing ODIs in mid-January without any match training for the next month. Even Surya has committed to playing matches of the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai as he wants to be in the groove.
“You can understand when he plays multi-format. So on what basis are you going to choose him,” said a former national manager, who worked with both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
Mainly separate teams are expected for ODIs and T20Is
India have a busy schedule starting with the home season from January 3.
Although there is much curiosity about Rohit’s future as captain of the T20I and the imminent ascendancy of Hardik Pandya, the functioning of the BCCI, one might not see a decision taken, but a process of removal progressive could be followed.
Between January 3 and February 1, India played 12 white ball matches in 29 days, including six against New Zealand and six against Sri Lanka.
Six ODIs and six T20Is are in 12 different cities, which also means 12 different flights. Although travel is an underrated aspect of workload management, it is expected that T20Is and ODIs will have at least 75-80% different names.
The ODI squad may have players who the team management believes will play in the 2023 edition.
“Why do you need to announce Rohit’s removal from the T20I captaincy? Are the T20Is the top priority in 2023? No. BCCI has never operated on public sentiment. It has its own style operating,” said a former BCCI employee.
“But yeah, you can easily ask Rohit, Virat and KL Rahul to focus on the ODIs and the Test series against Australia which are more important at the moment and let Hardik lead in the six T20Is.”
