‘Muh ki baat chhin li bhai aapne’ – Fans react as Ravi Shastri says Shikhar Dhawan doesn’t get credit he deserves

India are currently struggling to find a perfect playing XI combination for the upcoming Asia Cup and ODI World Cup. Asia Cup will be the last chance for the Indian team management to do all their experiments before the ODI World Cup. However, the team had some relief in the past few days after the comeback of India’s premium fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

But that only resolves India’s bowling problems and the batting concerns are still there. It is still not decided who will be the opening partner of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes that Kishan should play at the top order while other players like Rohit, Virat Kohli and Gill can be flexible to play at any place.

[Shall play Ishan Kishan] at the top of the order, nowhere else. And the others have to be flexible. Between Rohit, Virat and Gill… that can be 2, 3, 4. There are three other positions where I think two left-handers have to come in, apart from the top four you mentioned. Now this is where the selectors’ role comes in because they are watching. They know who’s the guy who’s hot. If Tilak Varma is hot, bring him in. If you think Yashasvi Jaiswal is hot, bring him in,” Shastri was quoted as saying by News 18.

Shikhar Dhawan was an amazing player: Ravi Shastri

Interestingly, Shastri recalled India’s heartbreaking loss in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final and said the team were missing their veteran left-hander Shikhar Dhawan who was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. Shastri also heaped praise on Dhawan and said that he was an amazing player but people don’t give credit to what he deserves.  

“People don’t give credit to what Shikhar Dhawan deserves. That guy was an amazing player. We had a brilliant World Cup in 2019 but we lost the semi-final to New Zealand. He was the missing man there. A left-hander at the top of the order, as opposed to three right-handers, makes a huge difference when the ball is swinging away (swinging in for the right-handers),” he added.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/Abhishekl1607/status/1692009679285846355?s=20