Shikhar Dhawan, the most senior Indian cricketer, will likely be involved in India’s World Cup campaign in 2023. While most Indian players are focused on the 202 World Cup T20, Rohit Sharma-Shikhar Dhawan will look to cement their place at next year’s World Cup in ODIs. Dhawan’s focus is undoubtedly next year’s ODI World Cup; to achieve it; he wants to play as many matches for India and perform well there. Dhawan has revealed his only focus remains the 2023 World Cup and domestic; he would still be playing a lot of ipl and domestic cricket to get match-fit. Since starting to open matches frequently in 2013, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have scored more than 5000 runs in one-day international cricket.
Last year, he was one of two players to play all ODIs for the Indian cricket team. So far, he has played ten matches at ODI World Cups (in the 2015 and 2019 editions) and has 537 runs to his name, averaging 53.70. He has also played a significant part in the team’s ICC Champions Trophy 2013 triumph, where he was awarded the Man of the Series award, scoring 363 runs from 5 matches at an average of 90.75, including two centuries one half-century. The 36-year-old left-hander was handed the captaincy batsmanship for the ODI series against West Indies at West Indies.
After five months of joining the Indian limited-overs fold, Dhawan has been banking on his fundamentals and techniques alone, which he believes can save him in difficult situations. With the bat, Dhawan has scored 110 runs at an average of 55 in the two matches against the Windies, including scintillating innings of 97 runs in the first ODI. While a few youngsters have made their mark over the past couple of years, Dhawan himself has not been considered in the Indian T20I set-up.
The team last toured Zimbabwe way back in June-July 2016, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Considering that the next three-four months will be spent entirely focused on the T20Is before the T20 World Cup in Australia, India is expected to have just under one year to prepare for the upcoming 50-over World Cup. He guided the side to a 3-0 series victory, scoring 168 runs, finishing second highest run-getter of the series behind Shubman Gill, with an average of 56, and scoring two fifties. When it comes to ODI cricket, Indian cricket teams are reluctant to look past the experienced opener, Shikhar Dhawan, or at least until the 2023 World Cup; he is the backup best. Shikhar Dhawan was expected to captain India against Zimbabwe, but he will now only be participating as a player. We believe that such a choice will boost Dhawan’s confidence. KL Rahul will now captain the Indian side.
