India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd T20: Shikhar Dhawan fails to leave his mark in T20 series, T20 World Cup spot in jeopardy – Team India skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who is leading the team in Sri Lanka, was dismissed on a duck in the third and final T20I of the series here at the R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Thursday. Dhawan also becomes the first Indian captain to register a golden duck in T20Is. Shikhar Dhawan who is facing direct competition from KL Rahul to open the batting for India in the T20 World Cup was expected to seal his spot in the India tour of Sri Lanka but he has failed to grab the opportunity.
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Earlier in the 2nd match of the series, Dhawan played a sluggish innings of 40 runs in 42 balls with the help of five boundaries. This is the third time in the series that Dhawan has failed to impress with the bat as he could only score 46 runs in 40 balls.
Dhawan in T20I vs SL
1st T20I – 46
2nd T20I – 40
3rd T20I – 0
His competition at the top, KL Rahul is in the form of his life in 2021, has scored 1557 runs in his 49 match T20I career. His strike rate is 142.19 and his average is 39.92 with 2 centuries and 14 fifties. While on the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan has scored 1759 runs in 67 T20I matches with the help of 11 fifties while averaging 28.37. However, his strike rate is below average – 126.45 -which might cost him his place in the playing XI for the T20 World Cup.
IPL Form- KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan
In IPL 2021 phase 1, KL Rahul had scored the second-highest runs by any batter. He smashed 331 runs in seven games with the help of four fifties and a strike rate of 136.21, He was averaging 66.20 in the first phase while on the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan was donning the orange cap with 380 runs in 8 games with the help of three fifties. Here as well his average is lesser than the average of KL Rahul – 134.27.
Spot for T20 World Cup
KL Rahul is in top-notch form and if he could continue it in the second phase of the IPL 2021 then no one can stop him from opening the batting with Shikhar Dhawan while if Shikhar Dhawan can improve his strike rate and show some consistency in IPL he will give a tough run to KL Rahul. (India tour of Sri Lanka)
Editors pick
