Salman Butt Wants Shikhar Dhawan To Open For India During ICC World Cup 2023, Says ”They Will Need Experience”
New Delhi: Ex Pakistan star Salman Butt strongly feels India need an experienced batter at the 50-over World Cup later this year in October and there is only one name in his mind- Shikhar Dhawan.
For the former KKR man, he believes that there are no top order right-handed Indian batters, who can open as good as the left-handed Dhawan.
“They will need Shikhar Dhawan on top. I don’t see any of the top-order batters, among right-handers, who can open as good as him. Either Shikhar and Shubman (Gill) can open and Rohit (Sharma) comes one down, or Rohit can open with Shikhar,” said Butt on his YouTube Channel.
He also mentioned about the likes of KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane, who all are actually a good fit at no. 6 for India. Butt feels, they have the experience to handle pressure situations, something which youngsters have stuttered.
“They will need experience in World Cup. They also need a guy in at number 6, either it’s KL Rahul or (Ajinkya) Rahane. When there’s pressure, the youngsters stutter. You need experience,” said Butt.
India are currently in a dilemma as with only 2 months to go for the World Cup, the Men in Blue are still searching for their strongest playing XI. Bumrah will be making his return after 11 months in the Ireland series, later this month. KL Rahul is still in recovering phase and Pant’s return is still unknown, despite of showing immense improvement in his recovery following a car accident back in December 2022.
Dhawan has always been consistent in the IPL but in recent years, he didn’t make it to the major tournaments, except a few bilateral series.