IPL 2021: "I would love to see an absolutely fearless Shikhar Dhawan" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra wants Shikhar Dhawan to bat fearlessly in IPL 2021 and prove a point after being dropped from the Indian T20I team.

Dhawan was dropped from the Indian team after the first T20I against England when he scored just 4 runs and looked slightly out of sorts. The Delhi Capitals opener had scored 81 runs in the three encounters of the T20I series in Australia last year.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Aakash Chopra expressed his desire to see the explosive side of Shikhar Dhawan in IPL 2021.

"I would love to see an absolutely fearless Shikhar Dhawan. He has a point to prove because he must feel slightly hard done by. After what he did in the IPL, he was picked for white-ball cricket. He played in Australia and then played only a single game, the first game against England at Ahmedabad and then was benched for the remaining games," said Chopra.

The former India opener wants Shikhar Dhawan to answer his critics with stunning performances with the bat, similar to those he dished out for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020.

"The only thing you can do as a player is to let the bat do the talking. So that's what I am expecting from Shikhar Dhawan, just replicate what he has done in the previous season," added Chopra.

Shikhar Dhawan was the second-highest run-getter in IPL 2020, with his 618 runs only behind the 670 scored by the Orange Cap winner KL Rahul.

2020 #IPL Most Runs:KL Rahul (KXIP) 670Shikhar Dhawan (DC) 618David Warner (SRH) 548Shreyas Iyer (DC) 519Ishan Kishan (MI) 516Quinton de Kock (MI) 503Suryakumar Yadav (MI) 480Devdutt Padikkal (RCB) 473Virat Kohli (RCB) 466AB de Villiers (RCB) 454#IPL2020

— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) November 11, 2020

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"I don't think Shikhar Dhawan has lost his place in the Indian T20I team" - Parthiv Patel

Shikhar Dhawan made way for Ishan Kishan in the 2nd T20I against England

Parthiv Patel believes Shikhar Dhawan is still very much in the Indian T20I team's scheme of things but was left out to try a different combination.

"I don't think Shikhar Dhawan has lost his place in the Indian T20I team, he is not getting a place because of the combination. He needs to bat the same way as he did last year. He is looking more relaxed and enjoying his game even more," said Patel.

The former India wicket-keeper hopes Shikhar Dhawan plays with gay abandon for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021 as that approach gives him the best results.

"There should not be any role play or anything, he should just go out there, see the ball and hit. Because whenever Shikhar Dhawan plays in that fashion, he doesn't think whether he has scored a 50, 60 or 70, he will play the long innings and last year we saw he scored two centuries as well. He should take that confidence and enjoy on the ground," concluded Patel.

With the emergence of the likes of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav at the international stage and Virat Kohli also expressing a desire to open in T20Is, IPL 2021 might just be the last opportunity for Shikhar Dhawan to stake a claim for a spot in the Indian team for the shortest format of the game.

Difficult for Shikhar Dhawan to make a return to the playing XI in T20Is, it is getting tougher for the left-hander...today Ishan Kishan is giving enough indication of the generation next #cricket #IndvEng

— Chandresh Narayanan (@chand2579) March 14, 2021