Opening with Dhawan for World Cup might have to be reassessed: Sunil Gavaskar

Shikhar Dhawan

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has said that opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan needs to put in the hard yards and learn from the way his opening partner in Tests, Murali Vijay, rectified his technical flaws and performed exceedingly well, both in England and Australia.

“Ideally, I would go with a left-right combination at the top of the order for obvious reasons,” Gavaskar told Wisden India.

“But it is a strategy that will perhaps have to be revisited now. Shikhar has an obvious technical flaw, and he seems low on confidence as well. The problem is that he doesn’t move his feet towards the pitch of the ball. When I say move the feet, I don’t mean commit to the front foot, but just be in a good position to present the full face of the bat to the ball.

“During the Test series here in Australia, and even before that, M Vijay overcame that specific problem, which is why he was successful both in England and then in this series. Shikhar doesn’t seem to have overcome that technical shortcoming thus far.”

Dhawan remains an important member of the team: Gavaskar

The 65-year-old further added that the left-hander is a crucial member of the Indian side and his poor form doesn't bode well for the Men in Blue. The 29-year-old has scored 11 runs in the 3 games of the Carlton Mid tri-series so far and didn’t have the best of times in the preceding Test series either, scoring 167 runs in 3 Tests at an average of 27.83.

“This tournament is almost over, the focus will now have to shift to the World Cup. Shikhar needs to work on his game; he can return to the World Cup perhaps against a team that may not have the strongest bowling attack, and then work his way back into the runs. He is a very important member of the side because when he gets going, he can make a decisive impact,” the former India opener said.