People will talk if Shikhar Dhawan fails to rediscover form: Sunil Gavaskar

Shikhar Dhawan (IANS)

New Delhi, Nov 5: Former India great Sunil Gavaskar feels opener Shikhar Dhawan must find his form as soon as possible as he is known as one of the finest players of the white ball. In the first T20I of the three-match rubber against Bangladesh in New Delhi, Dhawan scored 41 but took 42 deliveries for it.

Dhawan also struggled to find form during the just-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he could manage just one fifty in seven outings. Gavaskar said that people will start to talk if he fails to rediscover his form in the last two games against the Bangla Tigers.

"Questions will be raised on Shikhar Dhawan if he doesn't bat well in the next two matches. The team is not going to benefit if you're scoring 40-45 runs from the same number of balls. He will have to think about this. When players come back after a gap, it does take a lot of time to get back the rhythm," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.

India is currently placed fifth in the latest ICC T20I rankings and Gavaskar felt the Men in Blue will have to improve their rankings if they aim to lift the T20 World Cup next year.

"In ICC rankings India is at 5. If they are to go to 2/3, they will have to win some big matches. And if they can't do this, it will not be easy for them to win the (T20) World Cup," the 70-year-old opined.

The Rohit Sharma-led side will now take on the visitors in the second game in Rajkot on Thursday.