IND vs BAN | Scoring forties with low strike rate wont help Shikhar Dhawan's cause, opines Sunil Gavaskar

With the T20 World Cup knocking at the door, Shikhar Dhawan’s lack of form has become a real concern. Since the injury he picked up in the World Cup, earlier this year, the southpaw has been nowhere close to the destructive opener he used to be. Dhawan was team India’s top scorer in the Delhi T20I against Bangladesh with almost a run a ball 41. He also had scores of 36 and 40 against South Africa and have struggled in the Vijay Hazare trophy too.

Former Indian opener opined that run a ball 30 or 40 won't help the team’s cause and urged him to regain his rhythm.

“Questions will be raised on Shikhar Dhawan if he doesn’t bat well in the next 2 matches. The team is not going to benefit if you’re scoring 40-45 runs from the same number of balls. He will have to think about this. When players come back after the gap, it does take a lot of time to get back the rhythm,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.

Gavaskar went on to advocate that Men in Blues’ rise in the T20 rankings will make their chances better of lifting a cup which they last lifted back in 2007. Currently, India is ranked fifth in the T20 rankings. Gavaskar also highlighted the importance of winning the series against the big teams in the build-up to the T20 World Cup down under to better their ranking.

“In ICC rankings India is at 5. If they are to go to 2/3, they will have to win some big matches. And if they can’t do this, it will not be easy for them to win the (T20) World Cup,” Gavaskar said.