Former Indian chief selector Sandeep Patil has revealed that his four co-selectors were against the idea of picking Shikhar Dhawan over Virender Sehwag in 2013. Patil, who was part of the 1983 World Cup winning team, said he thought picking young players was important when they were in form.

On the other hand, Virender Sehwag was at the fag end of his career in 2013 and he was not in form. Sehwag could not deliver the goods in the first two Test matches against Australia in 2013 and thus Dhawan was handed his Test debut for the third Test in Mohali.

The southpaw took Test cricket like a duck to water as he smashed a magnificent knock of 187 runs off just 174 balls in his maiden innings against the potent Australian team.

“You should support a young cricketer who’s in form. Getting the right opportunity at the right time is extremely important. At that point, Shikhar had just returned from India A’s South African tour after scoring a double century and a century there. Unfortunately, we had to make a tough call,” Patll recalled while speaking to Times of India.

“All my four co-selectors opposed my decision (to select Dhawan over Sehwag), but ultimately, something good happened. He scored a hundred on his Test debut. It proved that my idea of picking him was right. I don’t want to take credit for this. I give credit to Shikhar because he proved my decision right. He saved me!” the former India batter went on to add.

Dhawan played 34 Test matches in his career, scoring 2315 runs at an average of 40.61. Meanwhile, Dhawan had an average of 27.83, 20.28, and 18 while playing in tough conditions in Australia, England, and South Africa respectively, and thus could not deliver consistently while playing away from home.

Dhawan has signed up for Legends League Cricket after announcing his retirement.