‘Not my headache’ - Shikhar Dhawan unfazed by India’s opening conundrum

Shikhar Dhawan, the Indian left-handed batter, doesn’t wish to clatter his mind, thinking about his position at the top of the order. Dhawan missed out on the ODIs and T20Is against the West Indies due to a knee injury that he suffered during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. But after Rohit Sharma took a break, the southpaw staked his claim back into the national team in the Sri Lanka T20Is.

In the series, Dhawan managed 84 runs, including a half-century at the MCA Stadium in Pune. His opening partner, KL Rahul, was the leading run-scorer of the series, getting 99 runs with a top score of 54 in Pune itself. Now the Indian team management are in a fix, surrounding the opening slots.

With all three of Rahul, Rohit and Dhawan shining as the openers, it may not be easy for Team India to bench one of them. Shikhar lauded Rohit and Rahul for their decent run of forms, but he’s aware that even he’s in the scheme of things after his fifty on Friday night.

I’m not thinking too much about it: Shikhar Dhawan

“All three players are doing very well. For Rohit, 2019 was fantastic. Rahul has also done very well in the last two-three months and he is a very good player. And now even I’m there in the picture. I did well today (3rd T20I vs Sri Lanka on Friday) as well,” Dhawan was quoted as saying in the post-match press conference.

“Well, this is not my headache. So, I’m not thinking too much about it because it’s not in my hands. I am happy that I did well in the two opportunities that I got,” the 34-year-old Dhawan, who has 1,588 T20Is runs at an average of 28.35 with 10 fifties, stated.

On the back of Shikhar’s half-century in Pune, India posted 201 while batting first. He put on 97 for the opening wicket with Rahul and set the platform for the rest of the batters. Thereafter, the Men in Blue shot the Lankans out for 123 and won the match by 78 runs.

Dhawan’s next assignment is the three-match ODI series against Aaron Finch’s Australia. The games get underway on January 14 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai followed by the ones in Rajkot and Bengaluru.