"Would have given the chance to Shubman Gill over me" - Shikhar Dhawan on being the Indian team selector
Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan has said that he would prefer to play Shubman Gill ahead of himself in the Indian ODI team.
Dhawan was dropped from India's recently-concluded home series in the ODIs against Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka despite being a regular member of the 50-over format for India in the last nine years.
Prodigious batter Shubman Gill was paired with Indian skipper Rohit Sharma to open the innings in the aforementioned ODI series. The 23-year-old has amassed 624 runs in nine innings at an average of 78 in 2023, including two centuries and a double-hundred.
At the age of 23 years and 132 days, Gill became the youngest men's cricketer to hit a double-century (208 vs New Zealand). He also became the fastest Indian and overall the second-fastest player to score 1000 ODI runs in 19 innnings.
Speaking in an interview with Aaj Tak, Shikhar Dhawan, without any qualms, admitted that he would give Gill a chance over him in the ODI team if he was the Indian selector.
Dhawan said:
"I feel the way Shubman is (playing at the moment). Like he was playing two formats and performing well in Tests and T20s. He was playing more matches in the international circuit and I wasn't."
He added:
"If I was the selector than definitely would have give the chance to Shubman. Would have selected Shubman over Shikhar."
Shikar Dhawan On Shubman Gill❤️🔥 https://t.co/LVN6MoSdb9
How Shikhar Dhawan was dropped from India's ODI team
Shikhar Dhawan was not on the radar of Indian selectors in the Test and T20I teams. He played his last Test against England in September 2018.
Although Dhawan was named India's captain for the limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka in 2021, he was dropped from the 2021 T20 World Cup squad in UAE and never played the shortest format for the Men in Blues thereafter.
Indian Captains won the ODI series vs SA since 2011:-
•Virat Kohli in 2018 in South Africa.
•Shikhar Dhawan in 2022 in India.
The left-hander's opportunities were limited to the 50-over format. In 2022, Dhawan scored 688 runs in 22 matches at an average of 34.40 but managed just 186 runs in his last 10 outings at 18.6, which particularly led to his axing from the opener's role.
Shikhar Dhawan will lead Punjab Kings in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 after replacing Mayank Agarwal.