Shikhar Dhawan: Down and almost out

With his dismal form with the bat showing no signs of improvement and the World Cup looming large, Dhawan's time in the Indian ODI team may finally be up

The opening line of Shikhar Dhawan's profile on Yahoo! Cricket reads something like this:

“Shikhar Dhawan is just one of many promising Indian youngsters who have a lot to offer.”

In all honesty, all he can offer right now is catching practice to the slips. When Mitchell Starc was running into Dhawan at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday, Aaron Finch -- standing at first slip -- must have been licking his lips. Brad Haddin would have probably whispered into the burly Victorian’s ear, “Mate, watch out. The next one’s coming in your direction.” And Dhawan, being the nice man he is, did not disappoint. After stuttering to an unremarkable 8 off 13 balls, Dhawan nicked a delivery from Starc that took off from a length. Finch did the needful. Shahid Afridi can take lessons from Dhawan in consistency. Three single-digit scores in three innings. The kind of numbers that would put even the great Peshawari Pathan to shame.

Rewind to June 2013. India were playing in the Champions Trophy in England. Back-to-back centuries against South Africa and West Indies were followed by two knocks of 48 and 68 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Many thought that the successor to Virender Sehwag's throne was finally here. Plucky and resolute, here was a batsman who could match the pageantry of Sehwag’s strokeplay.

A year and a half later, the left-hander from Delhi finds himself hopelessly out of form and staring at the potential of being dropped from the Indian one-day international team. He is slated to be a part of the squad that will look to defend India’s crown at next month’s World Cup, but Dhawan’s time as a first team regular may be up.

In terms of pure numbers, Dhawan can still hold his own and go out to bat for any ODI team in the world. In his last 10 innings in limited-overs cricket, the 29-year-old has four fifties and one hundred to his name. But all these scores came on flat, docile pitches at home. Away from India, Dhawan has struggled to put bat to ball in the last few months. The Test Series Down Under saw him get a couple of decent starts, only to squander them by some playing atrocious shots. The highlight of a rather forgettable series was a resilient 81 he scored in the second match in Brisbane.

So what does Mahendra Singh Dhoni do with him now? The Indian skipper is dealing with a batsman who is woefully short on confidence, doesn’t have a clue where his off-stump is and refuses to learn from his mistakes. One can argue that he deserves a few more chances. Well, maybe he does. But with the World Cup barely a couple of weeks away, Dhoni cannot go into the tournament with a player purely on reputation.

One option for Dhoni is to play Ajinkya Rahane with Rohit Sharma at the top of the order and Ambati Rayadu at three -- a role the diminutive Hyderabadi played with aplomb during the series against Sri Lanka last year. Rayadu has impressed in the limited opportunities he has got, but is not quite in the same league as Dhawan. The other problem with Dhawan is that he cannot bat anywhere else in the order. So either he opens or sits out.

For many, the inclusion of Dhawan in the World Cup squad ahead of the in-form Murali Vijay came as a major surprise. In hindsight, Vijay, sure and solid in defence, with a knack of producing the big shots at will, would have been the ideal selection. Vijay’s robust technique would have come in handy on the fast and bouncy pitches of Australia and New Zealand. But that, much like expecting Ishant Sharma to stop bowling short at the death, is wishful thinking.

All India can hope is that Dhawan comes good in the next match against England. But that too, seems unlikely. Why? India play England at the WACA in Perth -- where the ball bounces thrice as much as it does at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. James Anderson and Co. must be smelling blood already.