Vihari Says Dhir's ODI Call-Up Is 'Shocking' — And He Has a Point

On September 16, the BCCI announced India's 15-member ODI squad for the three-match series against the West Indies, beginning September 27 in Thiruvananthapuram. Buried among the familiar names — Rohit, Kohli, Gill, Jadeja — were two maiden call-ups. Auqib Nabi, the Jammu & Kashmir seamer who had already been part of India's Test squad in Sri Lanka, was one. The other was Naman Dhir.

Dhir's selection made headlines not because of what he had done, but because of how little of it had been done in the format he was picked for. He has played 14 List A matches in his entire career. Fourteen. His average is 39.00. His strike rate is 106.36. He has four fifties and no hundreds. In Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket — the very competition designed to identify ODI talent — his record is functional, not exceptional.

Within 48 hours, two of Indian cricket's most respected voices had publicly questioned the decision. Hanuma Vihari, who has 16 Test caps and knows what it means to be on the wrong side of selection conversations, was first. Wasim Jaffer, domestic cricket's all-time leading run-scorer and the man most qualified to judge a Ranji/Vijay Hazare pedigree, was second. Neither pulled punches.

Here is what Dhir's List A record does not tell you. On September 8, 2026, playing for Amritsar Soormas in the Sher-E-Punjab T20 League, Dhir walked in against Mohali Kings and smashed 173 off 64 balls — 16 fours, 12 sixes. It was not just a demolition; it was the kind of innings that turns a cricketer from a name on a scorecard into a trending topic. His team posted 279 in 20 overs.

That knock was the centrepiece of a tournament where Dhir was untouchable. In 10 innings, he piled up 655 runs at an average of 72.78 and a strike rate of 217.61. He led Amritsar Soormas to the title, beating Ludhiana Lions in the final on September 13. He was named Player of the Tournament. Five days later, he was named in India's ODI squad.

The timeline is the story. The selectors saw a man dismantle a domestic T20 league with a violence that recalled peak AB de Villiers, and they said: give him an ODI cap. The Vijay Hazare numbers — the ones that are supposed to matter for 50-over cricket — were an afterthought.

Wasim Jaffer, speaking on his YouTube channel, was gentler than Vihari but equally pointed. He called Dhir's selection "a little debatable" and questioned whether his List A numbers warranted an ODI call-up. But Jaffer — ever the pragmatist — offered a theory that explains the selection logic, even if it does not fully justify it.

Washington Sundar, India's primary all-round option in the top six who can bowl useful off-spin, is in Japan with the Asian Games squad. Nitish Kumar Reddy provides pace-bowling depth but not spin. With Jadeja at seven, India's middle order lacked a second batter who could roll the arm over and give the captain a sixth bowling option. Dhir — a middle-order bat who bowls right-arm off-break — fills that gap.

It is a selection driven by balance, not by weight of runs. The selectors looked at the squad shape, saw a Sundar-sized hole, and found a man who could roughly plug it while also clearing any boundary in the country. Whether that is smart squad-building or short-term improvisation depends entirely on what Dhir does in Thiruvananthapuram.

For his part, Naman Dhir is not pretending to be something he is not. In an interview after his call-up, the 26-year-old was candid about the disconnect between his reputation and the format he has been picked for.

"The one-day format is my favourite," Dhir said. "You have seen me play more T20s because my ODI debut came only about two years ago, and I have played more T20 cricket because I have featured in quite a few IPL matches." He spoke about the strategic depth of 50-over cricket — how "you have to build your game and construct your innings, and you get a different situation every time" — with the earnestness of a man who genuinely wants to bat long, not just bat fast.

That is the paradox at the heart of this selection. Dhir says ODIs are his favourite format, but every data point that got him into this squad comes from T20 cricket. His IPL displays for Mumbai Indians — including a match-winning 62 not out off 28 balls against LSG that announced him as a genuine finisher — and his Sher-E-Punjab rampage are what the selectors saw. His List A record, which should be the primary evidence for ODI selection, was apparently secondary.

This is not just about Naman Dhir. His selection is a symptom of a structural shift in Indian cricket that has been building for years and is now impossible to ignore. The Vijay Hazare Trophy, India's premier domestic 50-over competition, was once the proving ground for ODI aspirants. Score runs there — big hundreds, match-winning knocks under pressure — and you earned your audition tape for international cricket.

That pipeline has eroded. The IPL, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and state-level T20 leagues now generate the highlights that selection committees watch. Dhir is the clearest example yet: a man with a thin List A record and a volcanic T20 one, picked for 50-over cricket on the strength of the shorter format. Vihari's frustration — "How is it possible?" — is the frustration of every domestic grinder who has spent years building a Vijay Hazare resume that nobody seems to be reading any more.

Irfan Pathan, for his part, named Dhir as one of two players to watch in the West Indies ODIs, alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. The former all-rounder sees in Dhir the kind of fearlessness that modern ODI cricket rewards — the ability to bat at a tempo that makes 350 feel routine. Whether that translates from the Sher-E-Punjab T20 League to international ODI cricket, against Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie, is a question only September 27 can answer.

Vihari is right that it is shocking. Jaffer is right that it is debatable. But Dhir might be right that it works. The modern ODI is no longer the patient 280-chasing format of the 2000s. It is an explosive, high-scoring arena where teams regularly post 350-plus and the middle overs are fought at T20 pace. A man who can bat at a strike rate of 217 and bowl tidy off-spin is not a bad bet in that environment — provided he can also bat for 30 overs when the situation demands it.

That is the gamble. India's selectors are betting that Dhir's T20 genius can be stretched into 50-over intelligence. That the man who smashed 173 off 64 balls in Amritsar can also dig in at 3 for 80 in Thiruvananthapuram and build an innings worth something to the team. They are betting, essentially, that the format distinction between T20 and ODI cricket is narrower than it has ever been — and that the best way to find your next ODI match-winner is to look at who is destroying domestic T20 leagues.

It is a bold thesis. It might even be correct. But Vihari's question lingers: how is it possible that 14 List A matches and a domestic T20 blitz is enough? If Dhir succeeds, the answer is that Indian cricket has moved on. If he fails, the answer is that some shortcuts are too short.