Shikhar Dhawan has established himself as a reliable opening batter, claims R Shridhar

India are all set to tour Zimbabwe after the completion of the ongoing white-ball series against the West Indies. Shikhar Dhawan will lead the team and many of the senior players are rested for the series. Dhawan recently captained the Indian team as they beat West Indies with a whitewash of 3-0 in ODI series.

He has also experienced the national side earlier against Sri Lanka last year. Dhawan’s performance in the recent edition of IPL was also impressive for Punjab Kings. Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has commented that Dhawan has established himself as a reliable opening batter.

"About Dhawan, he has been invaluable to Indian cricket for the last eight or nine years, especially in white-ball format. He has been a great foil to both Rohit and Virat. These two guys have been exceptional at the top and Dhawan has got a huge role to play being a left-hander. He has carved a niche for himself as a reliable opening batter. His fitness is probably better than what it was a few years ago. He also understands the game better," Sridhar said to Cricket.com.

Dhawan has been a consistent performer for India in ODIs with 6493 runs at 45.40 at the top. Along with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli he has been a major contributor to run-scoring. Sridhar praised him saying he will certainly play the format till the 2023 World Cup.

"When it comes to ODI cricket, we don't want to look beyond him too much or at least till the 2023 World Cup, and in the shorter format, he is a back-up better. He gives his IPL teams 400-plus runs every season, but whereas the Indian team is concerned, he is going nowhere till the 2023 World Cup, in my opinion," Sridhar elaborated.