2022 was the year of T20 World Cup and hence, the focus was on the shortest format. With the marquee event now consigned to history, the teams across the world will now have their eyes set on the ODI World Cup which will likely be held around October-November next year in India.
With that in mind, Indian team management will have to start identifying a core group build around senior players to bring home the trophy they last won in 2011.
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The India squad from the 2019 ODI World Cup when they made it to the semifinals will have a slightly different look though. A major absence will be that of MS Dhoni who has since retired from international cricket while it’s unlikely that Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Mayank Agarwal will get a look-in.
Among the players who are set to feature in both the 2019 and 2023 editions of the world cup will be veteran Shikhar Dhawan who now plays in just ODIs for India. Dhawan was performing true to his reputation in the last ODI showpiece event before an injury ended his participation prematurely.
And Dinesh Karthik reckons that despite the different combinations the Indian team has experimented with in recent times, Dhawan will keep his place come the world cup next year.
“I think so. From the kind of vibe I get, he is definitely a starter for the World Cup. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be having him around. He is on the other side of his 30s and they could have easily moved on from him. Just the fact that they have him shows that they are very keen about having him in the ODI team,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Karthik then explained how Dhawan’s record and consistency in the format makes him an automatic choice. “He has been a gun player in ICC tournaments, somebody who rises to the occasion and he plays at a fair clip consistently. Even in the 2019 World Cup, he really did well before getting injured. So, he is somebody you can bank on unless something drastically changes in terms of his form completely falling off,” he said.
“He is somebody you can trust as an opener as he knows his game plan. He uses the crease really well, he has got everything to play for, and most importantly, it would be another chance for him to lead a team before the IPL and that is something he will be looking forward to,” he added.
Dhawan is currently leading India in the ongoing three-match ODI series in New Zealand which the tourists are trailing 0-1.
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