"Hope Shikhar Dhawan will be in WC squad" - Fans react as opener ignored for Asian Games

Senior batter Shikhar Dhawan failed to make the cut as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday, July 14, announced Team India’s squad for the 19th Asian Games.

Dhawan played his last ODI against Bangladesh in December last year. The left-handed batter was axed from the 50-over format following his string of low scores. He returned with scores of 7,8 and 3 in the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.

The Delhi batter had earlier returned with figures of 72, 3, and 28 against New Zealand away from home. Before that, he scored 4, 13, and 8 during the home series against South Africa. As a result, Dhawan was dropped from the ODI squads against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia earlier this year.

Dhawan, though, enjoyed a decent run while leading Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League. The 37-year-old scored 373 runs in 11 games at a strike rate of 142.91, including three half-centuries with best score of 99.

Fans on Twitter are now speculating that Shikhar Dhawan might be in the plans for the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will be played in India from October 5 to November 19. Meanwhile, several users felt that it was the end of the road for him in Indian cricket. One tweeted:

"Hope Shikhar Dhawan will be in WC squad."

Here are some of the other Twitter reactions:

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No Shikhar Dhawan as BCCI announce Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side for Asian Games

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Ruturaj Gaikwad as captain for Asian Games while announcing a 15-member side for the tournament.

The majority of players who performed well in the IPL have been included in the side, including Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Dube, etc.

The men’s cricket competition will take place from 28th September to 8th October in a T20 format.

Team India (Senior Men) squad for 19th Asian Games: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk).

Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.