Shikar Dhawan made it into the ODI squad instead of his ROI opening
partner, Abhinav Mukund.
I watched a bit of the Irani Trophy game -- they showed a 2 hours
highlights package on Neo, and I caught it in the hotel after I landed
in Mumbai on D1. From what I saw, Mukund looked the better bat than
Shikar Dhawan. Furthermore, Mukund substantially outscored Dhawan in
that game, 161 & 63 versus 83 and 13. Also, a glance at their records
show that Mukund has a 10-run better average on the first class scene
as well -- 56 in 29 matches vs. Dhawan's 46 in 52 matches. The same
story in List A, Mukund's 58 avg versus Dhawan's 46 average with
almost identical 85 strike rates.
The only thing *against* Mukund is his age -- he is only 20 to
Dhawan's 24, and maybe the powers that be think the lad needs more
seasoning. (But this would be the first time when youth played
*against* someone:-)
Anyone who has seen these two bat -- in IPL or First Class -- care to
comment on why Dhawan is more preferred?
bharat