Shikhar Dhawan May Get The Axe After Kolkata Test Failure

Shikhar Dhawan fell cheaply to Trent Boult on the third day of the second Test against New Zealand in Kolkata on Sunday. The 17-run innings, during which he was hit twice on same thumb, came to end as he was trapped in front of the wicket.

He scored one in the first innings, meaning that the left-handed opener failed to capitalise on the opportunity that came his way after Lokesh Rahul was declared unfit for the second Test of the three-game series.

Sources in BCCI now indicate that it may well be the last chance for Dhawan in near future.

He might well have to go back to domestic cricket and score plenty of runs, just as Gautam Gamhir did.

When Lokesh Rahul was injured, it is learnt from highly-placed sources, that Virat Kohli specially asked for Gambhir. The India captain felt that Gambhir is a much better player of spin bowling and can fit much better in the plans of team management.

Even former Test captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had given a statement some days back that Gambhir was one of the best openers against spin bowling. During the ongoing Kolkata Test, Kohli and Gambhir could be seen sharing jokes and having a good time together, indicating that any tiff between them was a thing of past now.

Dhawan has been very dodgy against spin bowlers and his recent form against South Africa at home and against West Indies have indicated that not everything is well with him.

In the four Tests against South Africa at home, Shikhar scored 150 runs with an avg of 25.0 while he could manage only 138 runs in three Test matches against the weak West Indies.

People close to Shikhar Dhawan claim that right now much is going on in the mind of the southpaw batsman.

His wife and son are in Australia while his parents are in New Delhi and as result he has to keep switching between the two countries leaving him very less time to focus on the game. But they also say that Shikhar is a fighter and will never quit so easily.