Is This the End of Road for Shikhar Dhawan in Test Matches?

India’s southpaw batsman Shikhar Dhawan could not find his place in the Test team for the Australia tour. Dhawan could not deliver the goods on the England tour. Subsequently, he also didn’t make the cut for the two-match Test series against the Windies. Dhawan had scored only 162 runs in the eight innings on the England tour.

In fact, the frustrating part was Dhawan was getting off to starts. However, he could not carry on to make a substantial score. Meanwhile, this was the not first time that Shikhar Dhawan didn’t do well in the Test matches while playing on the foreign soil. Thus, the southpaw batsman doesn’t have an impressive record while playing in overseas conditions.

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Dhawan also could not deliver the goods while playing on the South African tour. Therefore, he was overlooked when the selection committee came up with the Test squad for the Australia tour.

However, Dhawan has done a fine job while playing in the white ball version. The left-hander was the leading run-getter in the Asia Cup and thus was adjudged the Man of the series. Although, Dhawan hasn’t been able to carry on the same form in the red ball format.

Shikhar Dhawan has thus far scored 2315 runs in 34 Test matches at an average of 40.61. However, if we try to further break down the numbers Dhawan has scored more runs in the Indian conditions, where there is not much help for the fast bowlers.

Shikhar Dhawan has played 11 Test Matches on the home soil. The southpaw opener has scored 710 runs at an average of 44.38. In fact, Dhawan has scored his runs at an impressive strike rate of 72.97 while playing in India.

On the other hand, Dhawan has scored 1605 runs in 23 Test matches while playing in foreign conditions. Thus, Dhawan hasn’t been able to produce decent performance while playing in the overseas conditions.

Meanwhile, Prithvi Shaw was able to grab his chance while playing against the Windies. Shaw scored 237 runs in his maiden Test series and thus showed the promise that he is the future of Indian cricket. Furthermore, Murali Vijay also returns to the Test squad after proving his mettle in the County Championship while playing for Essex.

However, KL Rahul hasn’t been in the best of forms. In fact, KL Rahul had scored his maiden Test century in the previous tour of Australia and would look to repeat his magic. Hence, Dhawan has a healthy competition to get back his place in the Test team.

Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t played to the best of his ability especially while playing in the alienate conditions. Subsequently, it is going to be a difficult road back for him to get back into the Test team. Dhawan will have to come up with special performances in the domestic circuit to once again make a case for himself in the Test side.