It’s time Virat Kohli reads the writing on the wall – Shikhar Dhawan’s time is up

When Shikhar Dhawan took the catch to dismiss Jos Buttler off the bowling of Hardik Pandya in the first One-Day International against England at Pune on Sunday, there was an unusual look on his face. A normally very elated Dhawan was very subdued about the dismissal. And it is not even the case where the wicket was not key. Jos Buttler was getting into his groove and was starting to look ominous. The wicket at that moment meant a lot for the team and hence, the reaction was even more surprising.

But looking deeper into the situation, Dhawan was making a return for India after a long hiatus and has already lost his place in the Test and the Twenty20 International side. The pressure to retain his place in the ODI side was also high and hence, telling on the man who is nicknamed “Gabbar”.

A shadow of his former, aggressive self

When Dhawan came into bat, India were staring down the barrel, going out to chase a target of 351. There is always pressure of chasing such high scores and that probably got to Dhawan who could not play his natural game and after failing to launch an attack, bowed down and fell, managing to accumulate just a single run.

Dhawan did get a 50 in the warm-up game but even that knock was unlike him, where he scored at a slow pace and seemed jittery. The 31-year-old Delhi southpaw’s free flowing batting was missing and it was quite clear for all to see that he was certainly not at his confident best.

Though the left-hander has scored 287 runs in the five ODIs he played in 2016 at an average of 57.40, he had two scores of less than 10 – that is 40% of his knocks. The problem with Dhawan’s career has been his tryst with inconsistency. Even more troublingly, the few times he did make a decent contribution, none of them were match-winning ones.

Hit out or get out: Dhawan’s mantra

On his day, the flamboyant 31-year-old can single-handedly win matches for India, but when not on song, Dhawan has a tendency to struggle which in turn puts pressure on the batsmen following him. He does not possess the best technique and most of the time, his only way to get back to form seems to be striking the ball hard rather than spending time in the middle. Invariably, he takes more time than other batsmen to get back to form.

An overall ODI batting average of 43.36 makes for good reading. Dhawan also averages over 50 in nine of the 16 series played since 2013. But it is his recent performances that are alarming. He was brilliant in the 2013 Champions Trophy but failed miserably in the South Africa series, failing to cope up with the moving ball.

In 2016, Dhawan managed to play just five of all the 13 ODIs India played due to below par performances in other formats. His 2015 numbers are also something the southpaw would not want to watch. His last seven innings during the end of 2015 and early 2016 totalled 141 and though he picked up a tad bit from there on, his injury kept him out of one series while his poor Test showing led to the axe against New Zealand.

Shikhar Dhawan had a sizzling Test debut in 2013 against Australia, after which he has had his ups and downs in the longer format. Though he was largely inconsistent, a lack of options left India with no other choice but to live with Dhawan’s failures and extend his career.

India have the luxury of choice

Dhawan has enjoyed the backing of Dhoni and Kohli and both captains have believed in him for his capability to turn around a game. But, given his worrying lack of form, should India take the risk on fast and bowler friendly conditions in England and Ireland where the World Cup is set to go ahead in 2019?

When an alternate option opened up in the Test team with KL Rahul making a mark, Dhawan lost his place in the side in no time. India had similar problems in the ODI setup as well, but the options are coming thick and fast for the shorter format also.

Ajinkya Rahane, who has been an integral part of the Test team and also the ODI team, is knocking on the doors to claim his favoured slot as an opener in contrast to his usual No.4 position. Though some might argue, he failed against New Zealand playing as an opener but his batting style would mean that Rahane would make a good opening combination with someone like KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant who would play attacking cricket right from the outset. He showed a glimpse of what he could do at the top of the order in the second warm-up match against England, scoring a match-winning 91.

The other contenders are as mentioned above, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. Rahul has evolved his game to a great extent and was ominous in the Indian Premier League. He was also brilliant in the subsequent Zimbabwe series and with age on his side, definitely someone who could be bet on for the 2019 edition. Given his roots are from the longer format, his technique is apt to play in overseas conditions.

Rishabh Pant on the other hand, has given several good accounts of himself lately, scoring a blistering triple hundred followed by the fastest Ranji Trophy 100. He also blasted 84 off 34 in the DY Patil T20 tournament and a quickfire 50 in the second warm-up game.

With Pant also a wicket-keeper, he is one guy who should be kept in the team and groomed alongside Dhoni in case the former Indian skipper continues to misfire and is not apt for the 2019 World Cup. Pant would be handy and could be really destructive at the top.

In addition, there is Rohit Sharma who is currently nursing an injury but should be back as soon as he is fit.

The quartet of Rahane-Pant-Rahul-Rahane should kept together for World Cup and be the contenders for the opening slot. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Rahane could open and play the anchor with either of Rahul or Pant playing the smashers.

Pant could also bat deeper in the batting line-up and so could Rahane and Rahul and with more versatile players at disposal, India should work on these to achieve the result they missed in the 2015 edition or at least have a strong shout at it.

To add to that, Dhawan is under immense pressure having lost his T20I and Test spots, and for a player who loves playing freely, this is not the ideal situation and is clearly affecting his performances in the shorter format leaving him half a player of what he was. And given that, he does not warrant a place with much more lethal players waiting in the wing.