One of India’s most prolific openers of the last decade, Shikhar Dhawan, recently opened up about how his career with the national team ended. Despite being a consistent performer in white-ball formats, Dhawan gradually found himself edged out of the squad starting in the early 2020s. He had already been dropped from Tests back in 2018, but even retaining a place in limited-overs cricket became challenging.
Dhawan revealed that he had expected to be picked for the 2021 T20 World Cup but felt no urge to follow up when he wasn’t selected.
“𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈,” 𝑫𝒉𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔.
No Calls to Seek Clarification
Once the T20 World Cup squad was announced without him, Dhawan chose not to reach out to anyone in the team or selection committee.
“𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅. “𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. 𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
His ODI career also faded out quietly, with no call-up for the 2023 World Cup on home soil, even as contemporaries Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma continued to feature.
Competition From Youngsters
When questioned if he felt he deserved a better farewell, Dhawan admitted the rise of Shubman Gill played a big part in his omission.
“𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝑻20𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.”
Though he was still scoring fifties and seventies, the big hundreds had dried up. The moment that convinced him it was over came when Ishan Kishan smashed a double century in ODIs.
“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 200, 𝒎𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓. 𝑨𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅.”
Despite the setbacks, Dhawan said he remained in good spirits, even when his friends visited to offer support.
Conversation With Rahul Dravid
When asked if anyone from the team reached out, Dhawan shared that he did have a conversation with then-head coach Rahul Dravid about his exit.
Also Read: Shubman Gill Shines With Gritty Century At Edgbaston
