Heading back to November 2014, there was absolutely no doubt that Shikhar Dhawan would be one of the openers in India’s playing XI at the World Cup.
In fact, there was a debate about who would open with him, between Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. A few months later and an overseas tour, Dhawan’s place in the playing XI is in jeopardy.
It is surprising to know how a couple of bad innings, poor form, negativity in the dressing room and lack of winning mentality can seriously damage a player’s confidence.
Dhawan has been under pressure to perform away from home and has become the center of all talks at the moment, for all the wrong reasons.
The Delhi left-hander is known for his stylish yet aggressive batting ability and won millions of hearts by scoring centuries and celebrating in a unique way.
It took quite some time for the 29-year old to establish himself as a first team regular. Though he made his debut in October 2010, Dhawan truly showcased his talent with a blistering 187 against Australia at Mohali which included 33 fours at a strike rate of 107.47.
India ended up thrashing the visitors 4-0 and this is where it all began for Dhawan. Form Guide in ODIs At home the opener is unstoppable scoring at an average of 55.33 in 16 ODIs since his debut which includes 3 hundreds and 5 half centuries.
Away from home, which also involved games played in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Dhawan averages a decent 38.09 in 35 matches with 3 centuries, including back-to-back tons against South Africa and West Indies in England during the ICC Champions Trophy in July 2013, for which he was adjudged Man of the Tournament.
However, his form dipped in overseas tours to West Indies, South Africa (12 in 3 games), New Zealand (81 in 4 games), England (155 in 4 games) and Australia.
Dhawan averaged a mere 24.12 in 17 ODI innings scoring a total of 386 runs with his highest being 97* at Birmingham, his only half century since July 2013 against West Indies.
Despite a poor run away from home, Indian selectors extended their faith in Dhawan and included him for the ongoing tri-series against Australia and England.
The Test series was a nightmare for the opener scoring a lone half-century in the second Test at Brisbane and was eventually dropped for the final Test at the SCG after managing 167 runs in 3 Tests. Moreover, scores of 2 and 1 against Australia and England have further dented his place in the team.
During the tours of South Africa and England, Dhawan was vulnerable against the new ball on bouncy tracks. But in the Tri-series he fell to out-swingers, both to catches behind the stumps.
Three runs in 9 balls is his tally so far but the team management and skipper MS Dhoni are likely to keep him in the mix rather than experiment.
India still stand a chance to reach the finals if they manage to win both their games against Australia first, then England. Plus they have two warm-up games coming up against Australia and Afghanistan prior to the World Cup.
Rahane or Rohit Firstly, the Indian team management has little or no options to shuffle the batting line-up in such a short space of time.
Rahane had silenced his critics when he took over the opening position due to a finger injury suffered by Rohit, scoring 106 off 100 balls at Edgbaston.
However, Rohit bounced back with an unbelievable record-breaking 264 in Kolkata against Sri Lanka, shattering all ODI batting records.
Considering all the stats at home Rahane doesn’t stand a chance against Rohit, who has 3 centuries – 264, 209 and 141 not out.
As an opener in overseas conditions including Asia, Rahane averages 48 compared to Rohit’s 35.80. In nearly 27 matches Rohit recently scored a century (138) against Australia at the MCG. Rahane tends to give away his wicket after good starts while Rohit begins his innings slowly and later strikes big once settled.
Waiting for 2 thing- 1-Ab Devilliers to get out of form. 2-Shikhar Dhawan to come into form.
— Carlton Mid Odis (@nikitaiyer2) January 25, 2015
In terms of averages overseas, Rahane is a good fit but Rohit has more ODI experience. As of now, unless and until Dhawan rediscovers his magic touch, selectors will be forced to play Rohit and Rahane as openers with Ambati Rayudu coming in at No. 3 and Virat Kohli slotted at 4.
This is where Dhawan can get extremely lucky since there can be no more replacements in the World Cup squad. Having lost the first two games in the ongoing tri-series and with little or no hopes to reach the final, selectors could be forced to give him another run-in on January 26th against Australia.
However, time is running out for Dhawan and he needs to take every opportunity as his last and the make the best out of it.
India’s XI without Dhawan : MS Dhoni (C & wk), Virat Kohli (VC), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
