India vs Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan needs to be a little patient, says WV Raman | Cricket News – Times of India

CHENNAI: Former India opener WV Raman feels Shikhar Dhawan needs to bide his time to get his consistency back, while his opening partner Prithvi Shaw should look to make the Sri Lanka tour count by getting runs against an international team.
Shaw lost his place in the national side after a poor show in the series against Australia, but since then he has scored runs aplenty to make a comeback into the national limited-overs side.
Shaw amassed 827 runs at the Vijay Hazare Trophy and followed that up by scoring 308 runs from 8 games for Delhi Capitals in this year’s IPL which was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Shaw will get a chance to redeem himself in the upcoming India-Sri Lanka series starting with the first ODI on July 18.

Former Indian player and Tamil Nadu star WV Raman feels the Sri Lanka trip will be a good chance for Shaw to continue scoring runs like he has done in recent months.
“He is a quality player and this tour is an opportunity for him to gets runs against an international side,” Raman, who will be doing commentary during the series, told TOI on Friday.
Not only for Shaw, the tour is also crucial for his opening partner and skipper Shikhar Dhawan. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli looking set to open for India at the upcoming World T20, Dhawan will be keen to stay in the mix by scoring runs in every given opportunity.
“In case of Shikhar, it is a case of retaining his competitive edge, waiting and watching as to how things pan out. Unlike others, Shikhar needs to be a bit more patient and needs to try and ensure that he makes the best possible use of these matches and put the ball in the selectors’ court,” the former India opener mentioned.

The trip is significant for Rahul Dravid as he will be making his ‘debut’ as head coach for the senior national side. Having managed India ‘A’ sides and U-19 teams before and also mentored numerous youngsters in the past, Dravid, according to Raman, is the right man to take the national team forward in the future.
“It (Dravid becoming a full-time coach) is likely to happen. There is no saying as to when it will, but I will be surprised if it doesn’t happen sometime in the (near) future,” he said.
Raman feels former Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who labelled the Indian team for Sri Lanka series as a second-string side, ought to have exercised caution while making such statements.
“Ranatunga has been an integral part of Sri Lanka’s success and well within his limits to express his disappointments in any which way about his own cricketing board and cricketing system. But he must probably be a bit choosy when he starts to describe a visiting team or the members of the visiting team,” Raman said.