Prasad on dropping Dhawan: “Gates are definitely open for him”

Prasad on dropping Dhawan: MSK Prasad was recently vocal about dropping Shikhar Dhawan from the Test team.

MSK Prasad, Chief Selector of the Indian team, has finally gave away reasons regarding the ouster of Shikhar Dhawan from the Indian Test team. It was a peculiar situation for Dhawan, who was named the ‘Man of the Series’ in the Asia Cup, but was dropped from the Test team the next day.

It was a case of two extremes for Dhawan as his ironical form across formats and conditions didn’t help his case. His last two tournaments for India have seen him score runs at respective average of 20.25 (Test series in England) and 68.40 (Asia Cup), which more or less sums up things for him.

Prasad, who was earlier vocal about the exclusion of Karun Nair, has now commented on Dhawan as well. In an interview with The Indian Express, Prasad was quoted “It is really surprising that a batsman who can rule in white-ball cricket finds it difficult to replicate the same in red-ball cricket.”

Prasad didn’t rule out Dhawan’s prospects of making a comeback into the team, saying that the 32-year old will have to put in the hard yards in the domestic circuit in a bid to push his case for the Indian Test team.

“He is a treat to watch in any format of the game. Unfortunately, we had to take this tough decision after giving him considerable opportunities. At the same time, we can say that if Shikhar is willing to put in the hard yards required for the longer format, the gates are definitely open for him”, Prasad added.

That being said, Dhawan is unlikely of being included in the Test team against Australia because of not being able to participate in the domestic four-day matches. By the time Delhi will play their first Ranji Trophy match, Dhawan is likely to be in Australia for the three-match T20I series, which will commence before the Test series.

Below are some of the tweets on Dhawan which had been uploaded during India’s victorious Asia Cup campaign last week: