SL vs IND | Won't matter for Dhawan even if India win 6-0 as he needs to score runs, claims Ajit Agarkar

The emergence of KL Rahul in T20Is meant that the Karnataka batsman took over the opening slot from Shikhar Dhawan. However, there was a time when, pretty much like ODIs, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were the regular openers of the side. The veteran Indian opener has done exceedingly well in the last two seasons of the IPL, even bettering KL Rahul. With Rahul losing his spot in the England series, owing to his horror run, the opening slot is up for grabs, and with the Sri Lanka series, Dhawan can again throw his hat into the ring.

Agarkar also reckoned that Dhawan hasn't done much wrong in IPL, and it's just that Rohit and Rahul are presently ahead of him in the pecking order.

The former Indian pacer also likened Dhawan to an Alto car in the race of high-speed cars to explain his position in different white-ball formats.

“It’s a curious case. In the battle of high-speed racing cars (read T20s) and sustainable vehicles (read Tests), Dhawan was always like an Alto. He used to fulfill most of the Indian team's needs in his own style, making him an indispensable part of the ODI XI but never quite the same in T20Is."

“Shikhar played the first T20 against England and then was left out for the next four. He came back and had an exceptional IPL. Even in the previous edition, he was superb. He’s not doing anything wrong.

“You almost felt like those two (Rohit and Rahul) had overtaken Shikhar but he keeps getting runs and that puts pressure on the likes of KL Rahul. Don’t think there is any doubt about Rohit’s place in the team, he’s the vice-captain in white-ball cricket. But you can certainly put pressure on Rahul and for that, you will have to score runs and that’s exactly what Shikhar needs to do to get his spot back in the XI,” Agarkar added.