"Shikhar Dhawan's international career is not over just yet" - Saba Karim
Former Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim believes Shikhar Dhawan has a lot to offer to Indian cricket. The southpaw missed out on selection in India's T20 World Cup squad and is also not on the radar of the selectors as far as Test cricket is concerned.
However, Saba Karim stressed how important Shikhar Dhawan has been in the one-day format. He remains an important cog in the Indian wheel in ODI cricket.
Speaking on the YouTube channel "Khelneeti", Saba Karim also mentioned how supreme Shikhar Dhawan's fitness is. Here is what he had to say:
"Shikhar Dhawan is an important part of India's one-day team. His international career is not over just yet. He still has a lot of life left in him. He is fit and also is motivated."
Saba Karim on Shikhar Dhawan's exclusion
Saba Karim explained why Shikhar Dhawan might not have been selected in India's T20 World Cup squad. He feels KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are India's first-choice openers in the shortest formats. Virat Kohli has also expressed his wish to open the batting and even Ishan Kishan has impressed at the top of the order.
Although Dhawan is not part of the Indian T20 World Cup squad, Saba Karim believes he will still be an asset to India in the longer format and also for the Delhi Capitals.
"In T20s, ahead of him, there were options like KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma . Virat Kohli can open, even Ishan Kishan can open. So Dhawan didn't get a place. In the coming times, Shikhar Dhawan has to play a really important role, not just for IPL teams but for the Indian team as well," Saba Karim concluded.
India's T20 World Cup squad:
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.
Standby players – Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.