We talk about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli but Shikhar Dhawan is a stalwart; he was silently doing his job: R Ashwin

The rise of Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan in limited-overs cricket has put Shikhar Dhawan in a very tight spot. The veteran opener is currently not in consideration and it will be very tough for the cricketer to make a comeback in the Indian team, given Gill and Kishan’s recent exploits in the ODI series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. 

Nevertheless, his long-time teammate, Ravichandran Ashwin, has hailed Dhawan and stated that the 37-year-old has always remained a ‘silent’ contributor to Men in Blue's success in the limited-overs format. He called the southpaw to be a stalwart of Indian cricket and also put up an interesting question saying if the team management should back Kishan thinking about the future or bring back Dhawan into the mix.

“Only when the Top 3 failed, we had problems in the past. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. We talk a lot about Rohit and Kohli, but Dhawan is a stalwart. He was silently doing his job. Will his place be a big void to fill for Team India?

Should we go back to Shikhar Dhawan, or should we groom Ishan Kishan, who has just scored a double hundred? Instead of backing a player on the basis of one huge score, we should see what the team requires. Which character will deliver under pressure? Which character will serve us for a long time?,” Ashwin asked on his YouTube channel.

Ashwin hails Gill for his sensational double-century against New Zealand

The spin wizard, Ravichandran Ashwin, was very impressed with Shubman Gill’s performance in the first ODI against New Zealand in Hyderabad. The veteran cricketer believes that the 23-year-old crafted his innings beautifully and accelerated well towards the end to bring up his maiden double century.

“Team India has seen Shubman Gill’s run in the past. He has scored hefty runs and has been the most consistent batter for the team over a period of time. He also plays the slog sweep and the traditional sweep, can cut and pull pacers. Smart batting, quality batting and acceleration towards the end. He accelerated beautifully in the last four overs and hit that 200 in the Hyderabad ODI,” Ashwin said.

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