Sunil Gavaskar doesn't consider Shikhar Dhawan's elimination from Lord's Test as justified

Shikhar Dhawan, the Indian top order batsman, hasn’t had the best of times in his cricketing career over the last few months. He couldn’t live up to expectations in India’s T20I series against England. Thereafter, he was unable to cash in with the willow in the 50-overs format against the Brits. Prior to their ongoing Test series against the Poms, Dhawan played in a three-day practice match against Essex.

To his dismay, he couldn’t perform and bagged a pair in the encounter at County Ground in Chelmsford. However, he was drafted in the Indian squad for their opening Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Unfortunately, he flattered to deceive and succumbed to the English pace attack in both the innings. Subsequently, he was sidelined for the second Test at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.

He should have been retained

Cheteshwar Pujara, the 30-year-old right-handed batsman from Gujarat, was roped in place of Dhawan. Moreover, KL Rahul was promoted to open with Murali Vijay. Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary Indian cricketer, mentioned that Dhawan shouldn’t have been dropped after only one match. He also questioned the criteria for team selection and remarked that the Indian team needs to strengthen their batting lineup.

“My point about Dhawan is that he is always dropped after one Test. Others get another opportunity. He should have also got a second chance. If you look at the scores in the first Test, he scored more runs than Murali Vijay and KL Rahul. So, what is the criteria?” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror.

“He [Dhawan] is a left-hander. If he was a right-hander, I can understand that you want to go with the younger option of Rahul. He should have been retained and the team should have strengthened the batting. In Australia, South Africa and England, you need to go with six batsmen in the first Test,” the 69-year-old added.

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