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'He should play the T20 World Cup. If I was selector…': Kaif identifies senior India batter as 'Khalifa' of T20s
IPL 2022: Mohammad Kaif said that the batter deserves to be in the Indian squad that will travel to Australia later in the year for the T20 World Cup.
Veteran India batter Shikhar Dhawan has been garnering accolades for his consistent performances in the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Punjab Kings. Dhawan scored an unbeaten 88 to lead PBKS to victory against the Chennai Super Kings in their previous match in an innings in which he crossed multiple milestones.
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Former India batter Mohammad Kaif said in a tweet that Dhawan deserves to get a nickname himself just as the likes of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have and deserves to be in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup later this year. Dhawan had lost his place in the Indian T20 squad to KL Rahul, who has formed a successful opening partnership with Rohit Sharma and Kaif said that he won't say where he thinks Dhawan can bat.
“Dhoni Thala hai, Kohli King hain aur Shikhar? 6000 IPL runs, delivering under pressure, he is T20 ka Khalifa. He should play T20 World Cup. Don't ask me where, if I was selector, I would tell you,” Kaif said in his tweet.
Earlier, former India head coach Ravi Shastri said that Dhawan deserves to be talked about in the same breat as Kohli or Rohit Sharma. Among the milestones that Dhawan reached during the innings was becoming just the second player after Kohli to score over 6000 runs in the IPL.
“He measured what he had to do by reading the conditions, seeing what the pitch had to offer, see what his role was, the shot selection, playing around with the field, choosing the right bowler to hit and the reason why I feel he spoke beautifully is that it showed his mindset and the way he has adapted himself over the years,” Shastri said on Star Sports.
"I call him a gun player because in this country most of the accolades have gone to Rohit and Virat but this man has been a serious player right in between there. And he deserves all the accolades for 6000 runs, 200 games, Man of the Match award, finishing off in style and like he said he has started advising youngsters,” he said.
