"Shikhar Dhawan could be a bit unlucky" - Brad Hogg on India's openers for T20 World Cup
Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg feels Shikhar Dhawan is unlucky to miss out on Team India squad for T20 World Cup. The left-hander was not considered in the 15-man squad for the tournament in the UAE.
The T20 World Cup 2021 captain list for all the participating teams is available here.
Dhawan had numbers on his side after winning the Orange Cap in the 2020 IPL, which was held at the same set of venues. While his strike rate has improved over the course of the last few months, Dhawan is said to have been dropped because of his conservative approach when it comes to the shortest format.
Brad Hogg echoed the sentiment while speaking about Dhawan's omission from the team on his YouTube channel, Hogg said:
"Shikhar Dhawan could be a little bit unlucky here, he started to really come off age, he improved his strike-rate for the last couple of months. But I just think that he is a little bit too slow with the way that the T20 format has moved along."
Shikhar Dhawan has been a vital cog for India in ICC tournaments since his debut. But he has not been able to stake a claim when it comes to the biggest stage in the T20 format. He was dropped for the semi-final clash in the 2016 edition for Ajinkya Rahane, much like in the 2014 edition.
"You need aggressive players at the top" - Brad Hogg on Shikhar Dhawan's omission
Hogg admitted that England have set the standards for aggressive opening batting and India need to follow suit. He does not believe that Dhawan, with his conservative batting style, fits the mold. Hogg added:
"You need those aggressive players at the top with a high strike rate to get India off to a good start and when you are competing with the likes of England, who are really dominant in that top order and very aggressive and get a high run rate as early as possible and keep that momentum going."
"Also, you're probably going to be chasing high totals here. So someone like a Shikhar Dhawan in the UAE might be a little conservative for that particular format. So that's why he may have missed out," he signed off.
India have opted to pick three openers in the squad, with Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan making the cut. The team also have the option of deploying skipper Virat Kohli at the top of the order, an approach that has been tried on sporadic occasions.