I Haven't Had Any Discussion With Virat Kohli Or Ravi Shastri About Specific Players - Shikhar Dhawan

Senior India opener and captain for the Sri Lanka tour Shikhar Dhawan has revealed that he hasn’t had any discussion with regular captain Virat Kohli or head coach Ravi Shastri regarding playing any specific player or more against Sri Lanka, despite this series being the only white-ball international series India will play before the T20 World Cup.

Shikhar Dhawan will lead a young group of players – there are as many as six uncapped called up in the squad – against the Lankans with many of them eyeing a spot in the World Cup squad.

He also said that if Kohli and Shastri are keen on having a look at any player they might have told about it to Rahul Dravid, the coach on the tour, but he isn’t yet privy to it.

“I haven’t had any specific discussion with Virat or Ravi bhai. But I am sure they must have had some sort of discussion with Rahul bhai and selectors and I am sure we would be conveyed that message,” Shikhar Dhawan told reporters on the eve of the first ODI. 

“Whoever is playing this series, it is looking at T20 World Cup. Of course, if selectors, Ravi bhai or Virat have some players in mind, we can mutually agree and play that player as this is a good platform. If you want to see someone before World T20, this is the only series you have,” he added.

The goal is to win the series and the best playing XI will play: Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan, who is going to captain the senior India team for the first time in his career, underlined that there will be no compromise on the strength of the team in order to experiment and give chance to players.

When asked about which spinners he will opt to play out of the number of options at disposal, the southpaw asserted that the management will go with their best choice ones. Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy are the ones in contention in the spin-bowling department, with Chahal and Kuldeep as the senior pair.

“No, we haven’t yet decided who and how many we will play. The goal is to win series and the best playing XI will play. Whoever is best spinner will pay. There is no hard and fast rule that we need to play everyone,” the left-hander stated.

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