Shikhar Dhawan's outwits journalist who asks about the opener problem

The Indian team is on a roll this home season after winning the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka 2-0 in Pune on Friday. India now has won three T20I series’ in this home season. As India prepares for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, settling on one opening combination should be the goal now and it has been up for debate recently.

Rahul has been in some fine form in T20s lately which has put some pressure of Dhawan’s position in the side as Rohit’s opening partner in the format, which he has been since 2013. Meanwhile, Dhawan’s form has dipped slightly in T20s as well. But, on Friday Dhawan played a fine and aggressive knock of 52 runs from just 36 balls to help India get a good start which the team later converted into a 78-run win. Rahul, on the other hand, scored 54 runs for the same number of balls.

Dhawan’s response to who should be opening the batting in the T20 World Cup

After the match, when Shikhar Dhawan was asked about the possible solution to the problem of three openers and who should get selected, the southpaw had a hilarious response to the question asked by a journalist.

Two opening slots and three consistent openers? Trust @SDhawan25 to not take unnecessary stress ??. His job is to score runs and he is happy doing that. #TeamIndia #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/qYHicVBTDT

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 10, 2020

“Whatever is the deal with the selection, it’s not my headache. I don’t stress too much about these things. I don’t want to think about it at all as it is not in my hands. My only goal is to play good and perform well for the side. I did that today and I am happy. I am satisfied that I got two chances and I could express myself properly. “He also said, “All the three players are playing well. Rohit has had a brilliant 2019. Rahul has been playing really well for the past three or four months. He is a really good player as well. Now that I have scored runs, I am back in the picture as well. So, basically the picture (situation) is becoming quite good at this moment.”

Rahul, Dhawan, Rohit – Two spots, three in-form batsmen

India first beat Bangladesh and West Indies, 2-1 each and now have stamped their authority after winning the series against their neighbors. Something which was different for India in all these three series’ was the opening combination. Against Bangladesh, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan opened the innings but Dhawan’s injury gave Rahul an opportunity at the top with Rohit against West Indies. With Rohit rested, Rahul was joined by Dhawan against Sri Lanka. Rohit is the vice-captain of the side and slated as the regular member of the T20I squad. It is easy to say that either KL Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan will come out to open the innings with the vice-captain during the World Cup.

India’s next T20I series is against New Zealand away from home next month. While all the three players will travel with the side, it will be interesting to see who gets the opening slot along with Rohit Sharma for that series. Some fans have also stated who they want to open in the T20s:

#INDvSL

Indian openers I want :

T20I
Rohit – Rahul

ODI
Rohit – Dhawan

TEST
Rohit – Mayank

wbu

— Abhay ✍ (@Abhay29121995) January 10, 2020

For me the best T20 WC te would be
1. Rohit Sharma
2. Shikhar Dhawan
3. KL Rahul
4. Virat Kohli
5. Rishabh Pant/Sanju Samson
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Washington Sunder/Jadeja
8. Shardul Thakur
9. Chahal/Kuldeep
10. Jasprit Bumrah
11. Navdeep Saini

— Arpit Agrawal (@letsdweet) January 10, 2020

https://twitter.com/HarishR96598606/status/1215699935758184449

I'll always go for Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma because these two always reminds me of CT2013 under Dhoni's captaincy. They were Fabulous and These duo was the destruction for every team.#INDvSL

— ＡＬʘ͜Ｋ (@AlokTerminator) January 10, 2020

https://twitter.com/deepaksonar911/status/1215713725182668800

Rohit Sharma never scored in Test matches and always dropped out from team.
He got so many chances in test matches and now he started scoring in test also.
In same way @SDhawan25 is also talented just need some chances and good innings in T20 also.
VS Aus he is much better.

— Prateek kumar (@CryptoMaster007) January 11, 2020

Yes that is correct..!! I am not opposing Rahul. He should get more chances in test.
But for ODIs and T20 especially for bigger teams Dhawan is much more better and experienced player that Rahul.
My openion …!!!

— Prateek kumar (@CryptoMaster007) January 11, 2020