India’s former batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has stated that Shikhar Dhawan has finally been rewarded for serving Indian cricket after he was named as the captain for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. Dhawan has been a consistent performer in the limited-over formats of the game and deservingly received the captaincy onus.
Dhawan has all the experience under his belt and he will look to get the best out of the young players on the tour of Sri Lanka. The southpaw has been giving solid starts to the team along with Rohit Sharma in the white-ball format and he will cherish the responsibility of leading the team for the first time in his career.
Sanjay Manjrekar gave the example of Anil Kumble, who got the captaincy responsibilities in the fag end of his career.
Manjrekar said while talking to ESPN Cricinfo, “Anil Kumble, Indian cricket’s great leg-spinner, got his captaincy very late and I remember my feelings at that time. I felt that a long-serving Indian player has finally gotten his reward. I am experiencing similar happiness seeing that Shikhar Dhawan has finally got this felicitation to lead India. No one deserves it more, he has been playing for many years, and his white-ball performances have gotten even better with age, especially in T20 cricket. It’s a brilliant selection and I am very happy for Shikhar Dhawan.”
On the other hand, Chetan Sakariya also received his maiden call-up. Sakariya made an impressive debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore as he scalped three wickets. He had returned with 3-31 in his maiden match of the tournament.
The left-arm fast bowler snared seven wickets in seven matches for the Royals as he bowled with a decent economy rate of 8.22.Manjrekar added Sakariya is a brilliant bowler and he will be in contention for the T20 World Cup.
“He’s a brilliant bowler and I don’t think selectors have taken a ‘chance’ on him. Sometimes you fast-track players and gamble on them, but Sakariya has shown such skills in his small career that it shows that one can introduce him straight to the highest level.
He has no weakness and in all the IPL matches he has played we have seen him bowl well with the new ball, in the middle-overs and even in the death. There are very few such bowlers who get all the important overs from their captain. So Sakariya’s selection is not a gamble, he has put up enough performances to deserve it.
I believe that he will be a big contender for the T20 World Cup’s team.”
