Hanging up his boots after nearly 20 years in professional cricket, Shikhar Dhawan’s international career will be best remembered for his outstanding ODI exploits for India over the last decade.
Picking up the opening mantle in early 2013 from Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, Dhawan and current India captain Rohit Sharma forged a potent salvo in the 50-over format. With Virat Kohli at No. 3, the trio made up more than 43 per cent of India’s runs since 2013 until Dhawan’s final ODI appearance on December 10, 2022, in Bangladesh.
Dhawan represented the calmer countenance of India’s top order but never failed to show up during the ICC tournaments. He racked up 1162 runs in 25 ODIs in his first full-fledged international season in 2013, averaging 50.52 at a wholesome 97-plus strike rate with five hundreds – the joint-most that year. This included the 363 runs in five innings at the 2013 Champions Trophy in England which made him the Player of the Tournament during India’s victorious run.
Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket two years after he last donned the national jersey, saying that he leaves the scene a content man after representing the country in all three formats. (PTI)
Dhawan revelled in the subsequent Champions Trophy in 2017 too, top-scoring again with 338 runs as India finished runners-up. No other batter has crossed 300 runs more than once in the event. Dhawan’s 701 runs in 10 innings in the tournament are only bettered by Chris Gayle (791) and Mahela Jayawardena (742), with none registering more hundreds than him (3).
The southpaw also topped the charts for India at the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, aggregating 412 runs at a 51.75 average with two hundreds. Back in England for the 2019 ODI World Cup, the Delhi left-hander was poised to dominate in conditions where he had blossomed over the years. The early statement came with a hundred in India’s second fixture against Australia before an untimely injury curtailed his tournament and World Cup career.
Solid globetrotter
Interestingly, Dhawan averaged the highest in England where he totalled 1142 runs in only 22 innings at 60.10, making up over 16 per cent of his career runs. In comparison, the left-hander amassed 1810 runs in India, averaging 41.08. Among Indians, only Rohit has scored more runs at a higher average (64.190) than Dhawan in an away country, incidentally also in England.
In essence, he belonged to a rare crop of Indian batters who held a superior away record in one-dayers.
Shikhar Dhawan announces his retirement from international cricket. (File)
From 2013 to late 2022, he ranked the third highest (6724) run-getter overall in ODIs, only behind Virat (8585) and Rohit (7476). Only 18 percent of Dhawan’s runs were made at home while Kohli and Rohit amassed over 42 per cent of their total aggregates in India.
Dhawan and Rohit piled on 5193 runs in 117 ODIs together – the fourth-highest opening partnership. They recorded 18 century stands – the second-best among all ODI opening pairs behind Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar’s 21. He had an equally effective equation with his Delhi teammate Kohli, averaging 60.17 for their 3430 runs in 60 combinations on the field. No pair has scored as many runs as them with a greater average in the format.
The post-pandemic phase downgraded Dhawan’s effectiveness at the top, even as he scored 587 runs in 10 innings between 2020-2021, averaging 58.7. With young Shubman Gill breathing down his neck with a stupendous start to his one-day career, Dhawan could not sustain the 2022 lull. He went 22 innings without a hundred that year, scoring 688 at a middling 34.40 average and eventually paved the way for the transition.
India’s Shikhar Dhawan during practice session. (Reuters)
His haul of 6791 ODI runs places him fifth among Indian openers. Dhawan’s 17 tons are only bettered by Kohli (50), Tendulkar (49), Rohit (31) and Sourav Ganguly (22) among Indians.
Incidentally, his last century came at the 2019 World Cup against Australia. Battling a fractured thumb off a Pat Cummins delivery en route to a 109-ball 117, Dhawan’s career-encapsulating charisma and big-match flair was evident even on that day at the Oval in London – his most favoured venue (474 runs with three centuries) in the India blues.
