If Dinesh Karthik is brought back in team, Shikhar Dhawan deserved place too: Suresh Raina

Former Indian batter Suresh Raina felt that Shikhar Dhawan was hard done by in terms of his omission from the T20I setup for the upcoming home series against South Africa. Dhawan last played a T20I game in Sri Lanka as the skipper of the side and since then, Ishan Kishan has been preferred ahead of the veteran batter. It has to be noted that Dhawan was once again among the runs this year in IPL 2022, with 460 runs in 14 games for the Punjab Kings.

Raina felt that Shikhar Dhawan is the perfect man in terms of performance and entertainment and noted how he has been a run-scoring machine in the last three to four seasons in the IPL. He added that if Karthik can make it to the squad at 36 years of age, then Dhawan deserved a place as well. Dhawan, recently in an interview, mentioned that he has at least three to four years left in international cricket and was quite optimistic about performing in T20Is if presented an opportunity again.

Shikhar Dhawan has scored runs for the last 3-4 years: Suresh Raina

“Obviously, Shikhar would have been disappointed. Every captain wants a player like him on the team. He is a fun-loving person who brightens up the environment. And he has always scored runs – be it domestic, international, or T20. If you’ve brought Dinesh Karthik back into the team, Shikhar Dhawan deserved a place too. He has performed runs for the last 3-4 years and has scored runs non-stop. Somewhere deep down, he must be sad,” Raina said on the Cricket Live show on Star Sports.

Meanwhile, the likes of Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh earned maiden call-ups while Rahul Tripathi did not get the nod from the selectors despite being impressive for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya returned to the side after some excellent outings this season while Dhawan seemed to be the scapegoat again in the shortest format.