Ajit Agarkar's "Preferred Openers" Take On Shikhar Dhawan's Potential India Comeback

Shikhar Dhawan has been one of the reliable openers of the Indian cricket team for long. However, the left-handed batter is out of favour for the past seven to eight months. Dhawan last played a game for India in December 2022. It was an ODI match against Bangladesh. Since then, the star opener has seen his stakes falling in Indian cricket. He is the captain of the Punjab Kings team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has performed decently in the tournament too, but a national team call-up seems to be constantly getting out of reach.

A potential comeback for Dhawan took another jolt on Monday when the player could not make it to India's squad for Asia Cup 2023.

Meanwhile, Board of Control for Cricket in India chief selector Ajit Agarkar ruled out a comeback for Dhawan in the near future. The selection panel head made it clear that at the moment, only Ishan Kishan is being seen as the back-up opener to Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.

"Rohit is not a bad player, Shubman has had a phenomenal year. Ishan Kishan (is another one). Shikhar has been a terrific player for India. At the moment three guys are doing well and you can fit only 15. Unfortunately someone has to sit. At the moment these are our preferred openers," said Agarkar in the press conference on Monday.

Earlier, reports had suggested that Dhawan would lead the second-string Indian side that was going to play at the Asian Games but leave alone captaincy, Dhawan was not even picked for the tournament.