I Feel The Team Might Not Be Looking At Shikhar Dhawan For The T20 World Cup: Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has a pessimistic feeling about Shikhar Dhawan ahead of the T20 World Cup. India will play a host of T20 internationals before the global event set to take place in the UAE later this year. Aakash Chopra thinks that Shikhar Dhawan might not be a certain fixture for the T20 World Cup squad as he copped some unfair treatment in the home series against England.

Shikhar Dhawan played only one out of five T20Is against England at home earlier this year as India left him out of the line-up after underperforming. The 35-year old managed only four runs before Mark Wood rearranged his stumps. But Dhawan had been in sublime form during the first phase of IPL 2021, ending up as the highest run-getter. The southpaw, playing for the Delhi Capitals, had been significantly responsible for the franchise’s dominance.

Aakash Chopra recalled the five-match T20I series against England when Shikhar Dhawan was left out of four T20Is. The 43-year old admitted it was not a fair call; however, he thinks based on his IPL performances, they can’t keep going back and forth. But Aakash feels as the captain in the Sri Lanka series, he could get his name up there by delivering significant performances.

“I feel the team might not be looking at him [Dhawan]. It is just my thought because last when you played him in the T20Is, he played just one match and was dropped for four. That wasn’t fair, to begin with. However, his IPL has been so good that you again want to go towards him but can’t keep doing this, that you do one thing first and then the other thing. But they have made him the captain now, so if he does well, his name will be there in the list,” Chopra told in his Youtube channel.

Aakash Chopra predicts Manish Pandey to have the lowest chance amongst the four to make it to the World T20 squad:

Aakash Chopra further stated that out of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, two should get the nod. The cricketer-turned-commentator observed that Ishan Kishan, Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson are likely to miss out. He mainly talked about Pandey, who has delivered underwhelming performances recently. Hence, the right-handed batsman needs to perform outstandingly in Sri Lanka to stand any chance.

“I feel Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer – two out of these four might get picked. Ishan Kishan, Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson might actually fall behind in this race. Manish Pandey’s stocks are a little low for sure because when he plays at the top, he doesn’t play that fast and he doesn’t do well even for his franchise down the order. So, I feel he has the lowest stocks amongst all these unless he has a great tour of Sri Lanka,” he added.

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