Is Shikhar Dhawan in India’s 2023 World Cup squad?
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday (September 5) announced India’s squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup, scheduled to be played in India from October 5 to November 19.
However, Shikhar Dhawan didn’t find a place in the 15-member squad unveiled by BCCI's Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar.
The Men in Blue included India captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the first-choice openers, with wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan both as a backup opener and a middle-order batter.
For the uninitiated, Dhawan played his last ODI against Bangladesh in December 2022. The left-handed batter was dropped after returning with underwhelming scores of 7, 8 and 3 in the three matches. The opener had also failed to deliver in the ODI series against New Zealand (72, 3 and 28) and South Africa (4, 13 and 8) before that.
Dhawan, though, was included in the central contract list of players for 2022-23.
In the ICC tournaments, Dhawan has smashed six centuries, including three each in the Champions Trophy and the World Cup.
The Delhi-born cricketer played his last ODI World Cup in 2019, where he fractured his thumb after just two games. He, however, made 117 runs off 109 balls against Australia in the tournament. In the 2015 World Cup, he amassed 412 runs in eight games, including two tons.
The Men in Blue crashed out in the semi-finals of both those World Cups, losing to Australia and New Zealand, respectively.
Dhawan was last seen in action for the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League, scoring 373 runs in 11 games at a strike rate of 142.91, including three half-centuries.
Besides Dhawan, senior players like off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also missed out on a place in the 15-member squad.
Indian squad for World Cup
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
Click here to check out the full schedule of the 2023 ODI World Cup.