'Rahul Dravid had to make the tough call, we all agreed' - BCCI official on Shikhar Dhawan's T20I snub

One of the notable omissions from the Indian squad for the T20I series against South Africa was Shikhar Dhawan, who did not make the cut despite his exceedingly good form in IPL for the last three to four years. Dhawan last played a T20I international in Sri Lanka in 2021 and was left out of the squad for the T20 World Cup 2021.

With just few more months to the next T20 World Cup in Australia, Dhawan has not returned to the squad, and clearly he isn’t in the plans for now. The veteran batter notched up 460 runs at an average of 38.33 for the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2022 season and has looked in good touch throughout the league stage. While a lot of IPL 2022 performances were considered into the selection, it wasn’t the case for Dhawan and the 36-year-old continues to be the scapegoat in the shortest format.

In T20s, you have to give chances to youngsters: BCCI official

A BCCI official acknowledged the performances and services of Dhawan for the last decade to Indian cricket, however, he also noted about the importance of providing youngtsers a chance in the T20 format. He added that head coach Rahul Dravid had taken the call over Dhawan ‘s exclusion and mentioned that Dhawan was also informed by Dravid about the decision.

“Shikhar has been a great servant of Indian cricket for over a decade. But in T20s, you have to give chances to youngsters who have been doing well. Rahul had to make the tough call and we all agreed. Shikhar was informed by Rahul before the team was announced on Sunday,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.IN.

The likes of Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya have earned recall into the side after their impressive performances in the recent IPL 2022 edition while Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh were presented their maiden call-ups.

India’s squad for SA series: KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik