Fit, firing and certainly not finished - Shikhar Dhawan might still have a role to play for India

There is just something about some players in this sport that makes you want to keep coming back to them. It could be their aura, their charisma, or their tendency to just stand up whenever most required, and Shikhar Dhawan, if you have not realised already, is certainly one of those.

He has not played T20I cricket for India since 2021. Dhawan’s last ODI appearance came back in December 2022 against Bangladesh. In that period, several, most notably Shubman Gill, seem to have stolen a march on the veteran. But what he did on Sunday, against all odds, and in front of a partisan crowd in Hyderabad, should not be discounted either.

The Punjab Kings might well have lost that game but Dhawan, like he almost always does when it matters, rose to the occasion. It was an innings that did not just haul PBKS from 88 for 9 to 143 for 9, but it was a knock that told countless India supporters that if given the chance, Dhawan still has what it takes to don the blue and of course, win games of cricket.

Shikhar Dhawan has been superb in IPL 2023

What has stood out in this season of the IPL is how well the left-handed batter has been timing the ball. In the first game of PBKS’ campaign, where they scored close to 200, there might have been a murmur or two around Dhawan’s strike-rate, for he chose to anchor the innings at the start. But his ability to absorb pressure at the start set the stage for other stroke-makers to flourish.

Against the Rajasthan Royals, there were a few more groans as he returned unbeaten on 86 despite playing the entire 20 overs. In a T20 game, which was played on a very flat deck, that might well have cost PBKS on another day. As it turned out, it did not.

His latest iteration against the Sunrisers Hyderabad is comfortably his best this season, and perhaps even the best he has ever produced in the IPL. The amount of pressure he took on, the way he farmed the strike, the manner in which he kept the bowlers at bay, and the conviction with which he took them down was a sight to behold.

If talking singularly about Dhawan returning to the T20I setup, that ship might have sailed already. The next T20 World Cup is almost two years away, and Dhawan, when that competition comes around, will be 39.

There is an ODI World Cup not far from now, though, and that tournament is slated to happen in India, where the left-handed opener can not just thrive, but also be the sort of foil the likes of Rohit Sharma and Gill need.

Dhawan’s USP, which stats will often not tell, is his ability to play the big moments, and do so brilliantly. He averages more than 50 (53.7) in ODI World Cups, averages a shade under 60 (59.33) in the fifty-over versions of the Asia Cup, with that number zinging up to 77.88 in the ICC Champions Trophy.

At the 2013 and 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, he was India’s leading run-scorer, as was the case at the 2015 ODI World Cup. In the 2019 ODI World Cup, he registered a hundred against Australia before being ruled out by injury.

So, when the big moments come calling, Dhawan is usually there to answer it.

Apart from that, he brings an innate confidence to whichever group he is a part of. Had you watched him bat on Sunday against SRH, you would have never known his team were staring down into the abyss. He had a smile on his face throughout and while he was quietly aware of the gravity of the predicament, he never let it show.

That, again, is something India might need if thrust into a corner in a clutch knockout game, especially having crumbled in such games in the recent past. Take any example, whether it be the 2019 World Cup semi-final, the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final or the twin games against New Zealand and Pakistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

In all of those games, India knew they would not be able to avail Dhawan’s services and had, to an extent, made peace with that fact. Yet, almost every Indian fan, and maybe even the team management, might have yearned for the left-handed batter’s presence, just so that everyone else could bask in that belief and reduce cricket to its barest principle – watch the ball, and play the ball.

The world, as we see it today, is often guilty of following whatever the new fad is. That is why it is important to remember and relish what Dhawan can still bring to the fore, and why he can be a crucial cog just as a member of the squad.

At a time when everything is rattling around him at a million miles per hour, he should perhaps stand still, insulate himself, soak everything up and offer a fresh perspective.

He, at this stage of his career, may not be the swashbuckler he once was, and he might not hit as many sixes or pull off as many drool-worthy strokes as some of India’s incumbent top order. And that is perfectly fine, for no title-winning team is ever made of cricketers cut out of the exact same cloth.

Come the big moment, though, Dhawan will stand up, and that is probably what India have missed in the past couple of years.

Yes, the format is not the same, and T20s are never an indicator of how ODIs will pan out. But if you still visualize how differently things could have panned out, had the left-handed batter been a part of the Indian teams that have floundered in ICC white-ball events recently, that says enough about Dhawan, and his character.

That he is fit, firing and definitely not finished at the moment, means that he might yet have a role to play for India.

Only….if India want to look in that direction. It is unclear whether they want to. But if they do, Dhawan will be there. He always has been.