I don’t think Shikhar Dhawan is going to get a chance in Tests in the near future: Aakash Chopra

Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were assigned the responsibility to open the innings for India in the traditional format. The pair did reasonably well as the veteran duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag slowly faded away from the international scenario.

However, things started to fall apart as Vijay and Dhawan started grappling with consistency with the bat. To make it worse for them, the emergence of KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma resulted in Dhawan and Vijay getting sidelined from India’s Test setup.

Considering the cut-throat competition in the Indian squad, it will be an uphill task for Dhawan to pave his way back to the Test side. Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra, in this regard, said that Dhawan might get a chance for his return but that seems vague right now as India already has several choices for the opener’s slot.

There are already many options as openers in Tests: Aakash Chopra

“Never say never, he might get a chance. But will he get a chance quickly? I don’t think it can happen right now because there are already several options as openers for Test cricket,” said Chopra on his YouTube page.

“Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and KL Rahul. There are already four options ahead of Dhawan who is in the 5th position. It means that the position of strength which Dhawan had is not there anymore, and that privilege is not there anymore. So Shikhar Dhawan may happen sometime in the future, but not in the near future because the team has started looking ahead,” he further said.

According to Chopra, the team management has already taken a call on Dhawan’s Test voyage and hence, he should focus on delivering with the white ball for India. The left-hander has so far played 34 Tests and amassed 2,315 runs with seven centuries under his belt at an average of 40.61. He will be seen in action during IPL 2020 in UAE, where he will don the Delhi Capitals jersey.

“I think it has not been spoken but they have taken a call on his Test career that he is a superb white-ball player, so he should focus on ODIs and T20Is. But in Test cricket, we are investing in other people.

Be it Rohit Sharma, or KL Rahul – who should definitely be getting a chance to open in Test cricket very soon. There is Mayank Agarwal who has done well, and of course, Prithvi Shaw. So, I don’t think Shikhar Dhawan is going to get a chance in the near future,” opined Chopra.