What happened to Shikhar Dhawan: Why KL Rahul replaced Shikhar Dhawan as India captain for Zimbabwe tour?

KL Rahul replaced Shikhar Dhawan: The Indian squad has had a late addition for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe.

India batter KL Rahul’s return to action has been preponed by 10 days after him being named in the ODI squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe.

Rahul, who hasn’t played a competitive match since Indian Premier League 2022 owing to injury and COVID-19, would’ve taken the field in a high-profile India-Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 match in Dubai on August 28.

Part of India’s 15-member Asia Cup squad as a vice-captain, Rahul will now not only take part in a three-match ODI series in Zimbabwe next week but will also lead India in place of Shikhar Dhawan.

“The BCCI Medical Team has assessed KL Rahul and cleared him to play in the upcoming three-match ODI series in Zimbabwe,” BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) said in a statement.

Why has KL Rahul replaced Shikhar Dhawan as India captain for Zimbabwe tour?

Readers must note that Dhawan hasn’t suffered any injury to be replaced by Rahul as far as the leadership is concerned. The 36-year old player will travel to Zimbabwe as Rahul’s deputy now.

With there being no denying in the fact that the likes of Rahul, wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah are being looked upon as potential leaders of the Indian cricket team in the near future, the selectors are unlikely to let go of an opportunity to groom them in the leadership role.

Dhawan, who has led India without first-choice players on tours of Sri Lanka and West Indies last year and this year respectively, is below regular captain Rohit Sharma and the aforementioned trio in the leadership pecking order.

Rahul, who will be leading India for the second time after the tour of South Africa earlier this year, will also be playing international cricket in Zimbabwe for the second time. During his maiden visit to Zimbabwe six years ago, Rahul had made his ODI and T20I debuts scoring 265 runs in six white-ball innings comprising of a century and half-century each.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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