IND vs SL 2021: "Shikhar Dhawan needs to make best possible use of these chances"- WV Raman

Former Indian opener WV Raman believes the Sri Lanka tour is a crucial test of patience for Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan. The southpaw is set to lead a new-look Team India against Sri Lanka in three ODIs and as many T20Is.

Gabbar aur uske Sher 🦁 Boys are excited to get going 👊🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/fmhsMPP8uP

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) July 16, 2021

Team India's opening combination for the T20 World Cup still doesn't look settled after KL Rahul's poor showing in the T20I series against England earlier at home. Virat Kohli opened with Rohit Sharma in the last T20I and things worked out well for the duo.

Speaking to TOI, WV Raman believes Shikhar Dhawan needs to convert these chances into big scores against Sri Lanka if he wants to make his case for the first-choice opener's spot in the T20 World Cup.

"In case of Shikhar, it is a case of retaining his competitive edge, waiting and watching as to how things pan out. Unlike others, Shikhar needs to be a bit more patient and needs to try and ensure that he makes the best possible use of these matches and put the ball in the selectors’ court,” WV Raman asserted.

Sri Lanka tour great opportunity for Prithvi Shaw: WV Raman

"When I play for India or any team, I always put the team forward. So obviously, I want to win this series for India." - Prithvi Shaw (In Star Sports)

— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) July 15, 2021

Prithvi Shaw has seen many ups and downs in his short cricketing career so far. After being dropped from the Indian team due to his failures Down Under, Shaw came roaring back into form in the 2021 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

In 8 games, Shaw scored a mind-boggling 827 runs at a staggering average of 165.40 with three hundreds and a double-ton. He was also on song for the Delhi Capitals in the first phase of IPL 2021, scoring 308 runs from 8 games.

WV Raman feels Shaw has a great opportunity to score heaps of runs against Sri Lanka and make a strong case for himself in white-ball cricket.

"He (Shaw) is a quality player and this tour is an opportunity for him to gets runs against an international side,” WV Raman said.

The new-look Indian team also has a new head coach for the Sri Lankan tour in Indian legend Rahul Dravid. The veteran has a reputation of having successfully worked with the India A and India U19 sides. WV Raman believes Dravid will become Team India's head coach on a full-time basis sooner or later.

“It (Dravid becoming a full-time coach) is likely to happen. There is no saying as to when it will, but I will be surprised if it doesn’t happen sometime in the (near) future,” WV Raman concluded.