Shikhar Dhawan, a former regular in the Indian ODI team, has been left out of the squad due to his ongoing slump in form. However, Punjab Kings head coach Trevor Bayliss remains hopeful that the experienced left-hander will be able to make his way back into the team if he is able to make runs in the upcoming months. India has turned to young Shubman Gill in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence as they looked to move forward from the series against Bangladesh in December 2022.
The former England head coach expressed that Shikhar Dhawan is a highly esteemed part of the team and wished for him to have an extraordinary season as captain.
“He is very well respected by the young players in the team. He is a very positive influence on the team and will do a fantastic job. There is no reason he can’t. Playing at the top level first thing you need is to be in form and scoring runs. Hopefully, from our point of view, he scores a truckload of runs in the next few months and forces his way back in, and that would be great for us and great for India as well.”
Trevor Bayliss
Despite being 37 years old, Shikhar Dhawan has a fantastic track record in World Cups, with 537 runs scored in 10 innings, giving him an impressive average of 53.70.
Sam Curran adds plenty to the side: Bayliss
Bayliss has urged the Kings to forget the past and play passionately this season, stating:
“I want them to play the game for the reasons they started playing the game at the first place, which is the love for the game. I don’t know what it was like in the past but I will run this team like I have always done.”
He also stated that Sam Curran is a three-dimensional player, saying: “One of things that we thought was lacking last year was not able to finish off innings with the bat. That was one of the reasons why we decided to go after a young all-rounder like Sam. He gives us a strength in the middle-order and he is a world class bowler as well.”