Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'What's he doing here? He's not part of Rohit's aggressive brand of cricket': Jadeja on Dhawan's captaincy selection
Despite his 99-ball 97, Jadeja remained unhappy with Dhawan's go-slow approach in the match and rather questioned his place and selection as captain in the ODI team.
Even till mid 2019, Shikhar Dhawan was considered India's mainstay batters, and was considered in the same bracket as that of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. But the veteran opener slowly fell out of contention, first in Tests and slowly in limited-overs cricket. Out of race to make the 2022 T20 World Cup after missing out the squad for the tournament last year, Dhawan is eager to make 2023 ODI World Cup team and made his intentions clear with his impressive knock of 97 off 99 as the Indian captain in the first ODI against West Indies on Friday in Port of Spain. But former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja remained unhappy with Dhawan's go-slow approach in the match and rather questioned his place and selection as captain in the ODI team.
India are without the services of seven of their regular players which includes Kohli and current India captain Rohit. Hence, Dhawan has been named as the leader of the second-string side for the ODI series against West Indies.
Speaking on Fan Code after India set a target of 309, Jadeja admitted that he remains confused over Dhawan's selection in the team given that India had moved on from the left-handed veteran to KL Rahul and other younger options. He also opined that Dhawan's batting showed that he was definitely not part of Rohit's “aggressive brand of cricket” which India have been trying to adapt in white-ball format.
“If you get a weak bowling attack that what else can be better than that,” Jadeja said on Dhawan's 97 before he continued saying, “Regarding Shikhar Dhawan I am totally confused. What is he doing here? 6 months back he was dropped. India moved on to KL Rahul and some of the younger players. Then suddenly he was made the captain in the Sri Lanka tour last year. Then again he was left out, then was taken to England. So what are they thinking? And if he is part of India's thought process than captain Rohit Sharma said that we will play an aggressive brand of cricket. He is definitely not part of it.”
Dhawan's 97 did help India set a 300-plus target in Port of Spain before the visitors scripted a narrow three-run win to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
