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Former India chief selector Sandeep Patil has revealed that he faced opposition from all his four co-selectors when he decided to back Shikhar Dhawan over a struggling Virender Sehwag back in 2013. He, however, stated that he believes young cricketers should be picked when in form, which is why he was keen for going for Dhawan instead of Sehwag.
After Sehwag failed in the first two matches of the home Test series against Australia in 2013, Dhawan was handed his Test debut in the third match of the series in Mohali. The latter grabbed his opportunity with both hands, slamming 187 off 174 balls. The left-hander raced to 100 off 85 balls, a record for the fastest Test century on debut.
Speaking to The Times of India, Patil revisited his decision to pick Dhawan ahead of Sehwag for the Mohali Test and expressed satisfaction at the move coming off.
"You should support a young cricketer who's in form. Getting the right opportunity at the right time is extremely important. At that point, Shikhar had just returned from India A's South African tour after scoring a double century and a century there. Unfortunately, we had to make a tough call," Patll recalled.
"All my four co-selectors opposed my decision (to select Dhawan over Sehwag), but ultimately, something good happened. He scored a hundred on his Test debut. It proved that my idea of picking him was right. I don't want to take credit for this. I give credit to Shikhar because he proved my decision right. He saved me!" the former India batter went on to add.
Patil, who played 29 Tests and 45 ODIs for India, was the chairman of the senior men's selection committee from 2012 to 2016.
Shikhar Dhawan failed to build on the brilliant start to his Test career
Dhawan, who announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket on August 24, failed to build on the sensational start to his Test career. He ended up playing only 34 matches in the red-ball format for India, scoring 2315 runs at an average of 40.61, with seven hundreds and five half-centuries.
He last represented India in the Test format in September 2018 during the tour of England. The left-hander had a miserable tour, managing only 162 runs in eight innings, averaging 20.25, with a best of 44.
