India and England are playing against each other in the second edition of ICC World Test Championship (WTC). A five-match Test series has been started between the two nations on August 4 at Trent Bridge ground in Nottingham. The Indian cricket team, is currently placed at second position in ICC Test rankings, England Cricket Team is at fourth position. The Indian squad is filled with talented players and young guns who are capable to win against England in their home. However, a popular name in Indian cricket, famously known as Gabbar is missing from Indian squad against England. Fans want to know Why Shikhar Dhawan is not in India Test Squad.
Three big names : Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were not chosen in the 20-member squad for India Tour of England.
India Test squad vs England 2021
Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Suryakumar Yadav (yet to join), Prithvi Shaw (yet to join)
Why Shikhar Dhawan is not in India Test Squad?
Shikhar Dhawan lost his place in the Indian Test team after failing to perform well for his team. Due to his consequently disappointing performances against England, the selectors chose to drop him from Test Team. He has been out of Test cricket for the past two years. The 34-year-old Dhawan last played a Test against England at The Oval in September 2018.
Another reason for the exclusion of Shikhar Dhawan from the India test squad was : BCCI feels that all three, including Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar need to be fit for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
However, Dhawan has been a regular starter for team India in ODI’s and T20s. Shikhar Dhawan was also given the responsibility to lead India against Sri Lanka. In July, while the Indian Test Squad was in England, a second Indian team was playing against Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Dhawan.
India Squad for Sri Lanka
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
India won the ODI series against Sri Lanka by 2-1.
Sri Lanka won the T20 series against India by 2-1.
