"It seems very likely that they have turned away from Shikhar Dhawan" - Aakash Chopra on opener's exclusion from India's ODI squad
Aakash Chopra feels Shikhar Dhawan's non-selection in India's squad for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka might imply the end of the road for the veteran opener.
The Men in Blue will face the Lankan Lions in three T20Is followed by as many ODIs in January. Dhawan, who was already not in the scheme of things in the game's shortest format, has also been excluded from the 16-member ODI squad to be led by Rohit Sharma.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra reflected on India's ODI squad for the series. Regarding Dhawan's omission, he said:
"Shikhar Dhawan - now this is a big story, that if Shikhar Dhawan is not part of the ODI team, what does it mean? Are you looking ahead or looking in a different direction? It seems very likely that they have turned away from Shikhar Dhawan, that they will not select him anymore. It is a possibility."
The former Indian opener reckons Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan's excellent recent performers might have forced the selectors' hand, elaborating:
"It's a 50-over World Cup year. Shikhar is a single-format player. If you are not selecting him now also, it is not workload management. There could be two reasons for that - Shubman Gill has scored runs and so you have a problem making him sit out and the other is that Ishan Kishan has scored a double century."
However, Chopra added that although the veteran opener might not be in the short-term scheme of things, things could change rapidly. He pointed out that a good IPL 2023 and someone else losing their form could bring him back into contention for the World Cup.
"His name might come one or two months before the World Cup" - Aakash Chopra on R Ashwin's exclusion
Aakash Chopra pointed out that while Ravichandran Ashwin has not been picked for both the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka, the off-spinner could again come into consideration just before the World Cup, explaining:
"Ravichandran Ashwin's name is not there in all these scheme of things. His name was there in the T20 World Cup and played the one before that as well. Now the ODI World Cup is in India, his name might come one or two months before the World Cup because that happened before the last two World Cups."
Chopra was slightly saddened by Rajat Patidar and Shahbaz Ahmed getting dropped from the ODI squad, stating:
"You feel slightly sad thinking about Rajat Patidar and Shahbaz. They were with the Indian team for the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh but neither of them got to play. Now they are not there in both the T20I and ODI teams. They will definitely be thinking what did they do wrong."
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Patidar is yet to make his Team India debut. Shahbaz has played three ODIs thus far, including the first game in the recent series against Bangladesh, where he was dismissed for a duck and failed to pick up a wicket in the nine overs he bowled.