Poll: Did Gautam Gambhir deserve a chance ahead of Shikhar Dhawan?

There are 3 things Indian people are never and will never be satisfied with – Annual budget, Indian cricket team’s selection and the examination results of their kids. Out of these three, nothing causes as much outrage as the selection. Every time, there has been at least one decision from the selectors that raises eyebrows. This time, that face-off has been witnessed between two Delhites, i.e, Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir.

Since his scintillating 187 on his Test debut, no other cricketer (along with Rohit Sharma) has enjoyed the trust of the team management and the skipper (both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli) more than Shikhar Dhawan. That innings embarked Dhawan as the next Sehwag but his hand-eye co-ordination could never match the brilliance of Sehwag.

Dhawan has been stubborn with his technique, his feet movement, his upright stance and his strokeplay. This has been the reason behind his failures on seaming tracks with good fast bowlers taking the new ball against him. But no matter what, selectors and the team management has always shown faith in him.

This isn’t the first time that the Indian fans have been calling for the head of Shikhar Dhawan. During the Test and the ODI tri-series in Australia before World Cup 2015, the left-hander was struggling to score against Mitchell Starc. But the selectors persisted with him in the World Cup and he contributed with a couple of hundreds in the tournament.

Also read – Gautam Gambhir: Battered, Bruised, Down, but not Out

But every time he has come agonizingly close to being dropped from the side, he has played a noteworthy knock to save himself from the axe. For example, his flawless hundred against South Africa in World Cup and his Test hundreds on challenging tracks of New Zealand and Sri Lanka. And similarly, Dhawan showed signs of temperament too in the recently concluded Test series in West Indies where his main focus seemed to occupy the crease. This home series against New Zealand might be another last chance for Dhawan.

Another thing that works in his favor and against Gambhir to an extent is the presence of Murali Vijay in the side who has established himself as a settled opener. With Vijay around, the selectors would prefer a natural stroke maker like Dhawan at the other end, especially after experiencing how successful the formula of a stroke player at one end has been with Sehwag. Having natural flamboyance on one side has become a successful mantra for most teams these days in Test cricket.

Talking about Gambhir, the guy has done everything right in last few weeks in first-class cricket except converting his consecutive fifties to hundreds. He has already wobbled his chances of a re-establishing himself into the Indian side once when he could only manage the scores of 4, 18, 0, 3 on the tour of England in 2014. But putting that behind him, he has been knocking selector’s doors once again.

In the IPL, he cracked some solid fifties taking his team home. And in the ongoing Duleep Trophy, he has been impeccable as a batsman while leading the India Blue side. His batting scores read 77, 90, 59 and 94 so far. With the promise of a sturdier batting technique than that of Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir would not have been a bad option to pick.

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But one thing that works the most against Gambhir is the unavailability of a spot in the team. With KL Rahul daring the selectors to overlook him for any of the 3 formats, there are already 3 openers fighting for the slot. Even if Dhawan is kept out of the XI, KL Rahul deserves a preference. Plus, Kohli’s mindset of fielding 5 bowlers and the rise of Ravichandran Ashwin as a Test batsman means the batting line-up is packed with Vijay, Dhawan/Rahul, Pujara/Rohit, Kohli, Rahane, Ashwin and Saha.

It will seem quite outlandish to see someone with the experience of Gambhir be picked in the fifteen but not include in the XI and with this jam-packed batting order, it sounds like a tough task to fit Gambhir in. ‘Where would he bat?’ is the bigger question.

There was time when Shikhar Dhawan almost had a negligible chance of making a Test debut. He himself thought of switching to some other line of work for his living. A slump in form for Sehwag, which led to his omission and further to his retirement and a similar drought of runs for Gambhir pushed the selectors to look at Dhawan. Now, he is under threat of losing his place to another youngster and the same Gautam Gambhir whose failures paved the way for his Test debut.

However, India is playing 13 Tests on home soil this season, that too against some top cricketing nations. This is their best chance to build a proper Test team for the upcoming overseas tours. By the end of this season, the Indian team must be aiming to know who their openers are, who is going to bat at which position, what team composition suits the bill, who are the strike bowlers and many other Ws.

The end of this season may well decide if Gambhir is going to get a chance to put life to his Test career or will Shikhar Dhawan manage to continue or will both of them end on the fringe. Here is a chance for you to express your views.

Written by Shubham Aggarwal

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