How Long A Rope Will Rohit Sharma And Shikhar Dhawan Get in Test Cricket?
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, despite repeated failures, have found a place in Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team for the New Zealand series. If the duo fails against the Kiwis, their place in the team may be in doubt
- Abhishek Paul
- Updated: September 15, 2016 06:15 PM IST
Highlights
- India will play New Zealand in a three-Test series starting on Sept 22
- Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are part of India's squad
- Both have not been in great form in Tests of late
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are the two most favourite batsmen of Virat Kohli. Time and again the India Test captain has stated how the duo can change the course of a match singlehandedly and so needed to be backed despite failures.
The result of this trust saw both Dhawan and Sharma getting picked for India's three-Test series against New Zealand, starting from September 22 in Kanpur. This despite the two having a mundane outing over the past one year.
The big question, however, is for how long will the two take before repaying the trust of Kohli?
Kohli's backing
"Shikhar (Dhawan) is a very dominating player. He can dominate sessions and bring you into the Test match...You can't count out a guy like Shikhar because of couple of innings here and there. We need to give guys a decent run," Kohli had said about Dhawan during the recently concluded West Indies tour.
The 27-year-old Kohli was equally protective about Sharma during the same West Indies Test series.
"We understood Rohit needs to be backed at a particular position. Rohit is dangerous at No. 5 and take the game away in a session," he had said.
Rohit also got great support from outgoing chief selector Sandeep Patil, who also wanted a "fair" run for his fellow-Mumbaikar.
Poor record
However, the highest that Rohit managed in the West Indies series at the St Lucia Test, the only time he got to bat, was 41. Dhawan was slightly better with a 84 in Antigua Test. In the three other innings that Dhawan played, he could not even reach the thirties.
Their records in the last year and half is also not great, especially with both being specialist batsmen.
From the start of 2015 to the beginning of West Indies tour, Sharma played seven Tests, scoring only three half-centuries -- the highest being 79 against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The last time Sharma scored a ton was back in 2013, when he scored an unbeaten 111 against West Indies in Mumbai.
© AP
Dhawan's record is better. He scored 173 against Bangladesh in June, 2015, his first Test of the year. He followed it up with a 134 against Sri Lanka in August. But since then, the left-handed batsman has hit a lean patch.
In between his 134 against Sri Lanka and his 84 against West Indies, he played eight innings with his highest score being 45 not out against South Africa, while on two occasions he was out for duck.
Not just his low appetite for runs, but Dhawan's technical skills to handle a new ball is that raises the concern.
KL Rahul Factor
With the emergence of KL Rahul as an excellent choice for Tests and Murali Vijay's consistency far better than Dhawan and Sharma, the position of the duo is clearly on a shaky ground.
With India having an extended run of Tests at home in the coming months, Sharma and Dhawan will have a chance to erase all the bad performances with some good show.
But before that, the immediate challenge is the New Zealand series. And if they fail in it, the task would be a lot more tough for them.