Shikhar Dhawan said what no Indian cricketer says out loud. He admitted feeling jealous watching Shubman Gill take his place.
“I felt jealous when Shubman Gill was scoring runs. Everything in Indian cricket is based on the current environment. When Gill came into the team and started scoring consistently in ODIs and Tests, people began forgetting everything I had done for India over the years. I was leading the team just one series before, and after one bad series, I was dropped. That’s life.”
Shikhar Dhawan, Hindustan Times interview
That is not a rehearsed media line. That is a man describing what replacement actually feels like from the inside.
Dhawan captained India in the ODI series against West Indies in July 2022. Five months later, he played his last ODI against Bangladesh in December 2022. The series went poorly. He was never selected again.
View this post on Instagram
In the same period, Gill was scoring across formats and establishing himself in every condition India played in. Tests in Australia. ODIs at home. By early 2023, Gill had locked down the opening spot Dhawan held for a decade. The transition was complete before Dhawan’s phone ever rang with an explanation.
The timeline is worth stating plainly.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 2022 | Dhawan captains India in West Indies ODIs |
| October 2022 | Poor ODI series against South Africa |
| December 2022 | Last ODI, against Bangladesh |
| January 2023 onward | Gill established as first-choice opener |
| August 2024 | Dhawan retires from all cricket |
Captain to invisible in six months. That is the speed at which Indian cricket moves.
What makes Dhawan’s admission remarkable is what he said alongside it. In a separate interview on Aaj Tak, he went further than acceptance.
“I feel the way Shubman is playing. He was playing two formats and performing well in Tests and T20s. He was playing more matches in the international circuit and I wasn’t. If I were the selector, I would have given the chance to Shubman. Would have selected Shubman over Shikhar.”
Shikhar Dhawan, Aaj Tak, March 2023
The jealousy and the endorsement of his own replacement existed in the same person at the same time. That is not contradiction. That is honesty most athletes never reach publicly.
Insider Read:
Dhawan’s story is not unusual in Indian cricket. It is the standard operating procedure. What is unusual is that he described it.
In most cricket nations, a senior opener with 6,793 ODI runs and 17 centuries gets a farewell series, or at minimum a conversation. In India, the depth of talent makes sentiment irrelevant. One poor series is all it takes when three players behind you are averaging 50. Dhawan understood this intellectually. He said as much when he endorsed Gill’s selection over his own. But understanding a system and feeling its effects are different things. The jealousy he described is not petty. It is what every replaced cricketer feels. Dhawan is the first Indian player of his stature to say it without dressing it up in team-first language.
Indian cricket does not do gradual transitions. It does replacements. Dhawan went from being trusted enough to captain a full-strength ODI side to being outside the squad entirely, with no intermediate step. No managed exit. The current environment decided, and the previous environment was forgotten. That is the system Gill inherited, and one day, it will do the same to him.
Dhawan retired on 24 August 2024 with 167 ODIs, 34 Tests, and 68 T20Is behind him. His autobiography, “The One: Cricket, My Life and More,” came out in December 2025. His retirement statement carried no bitterness. “There’s peace in my heart that I played a lot for my country.”
But the jealousy quote will outlast the peace quote. Because it told the truth about what Indian cricket’s ruthless meritocracy costs the players it leaves behind.
Also Read:
