Elite ODI batter Shikhar Dhawan calls it a day
Despite playing with Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli, the left hander held his own scoring at a quicker rate in ODIs from Over 1-40 from 2013 to 2019.
Having grown up in Delhi, it was a matter of great pride to see two Delhi batters, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, form India’s best test opening pair after years of struggle filling those positions. While Sehwag and Gambhir were doing well for India, another lad from Delhi was scoring lots of runs in domestic cricket and pushing for his case.
Shikhar Dhawan finally got a chance for India in 2013 and he started in flamboyant fashion making the fastest 100 on debut against Australia. This Aussie team wasn’t at their peak and the match was in Mohali, but an innings of such dominance by someone so new had not been witnessed since MS Dhoni’s fireworks a decade prior. The mustache-twirling opener will be best remembered for his incredible performances in ODIs. Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli formed a formidable top 3 that served India during a glorious period of its rise in world cricket.
Rohit & Dhawan aggregate the 2nd highest runs as openers for India (4th overall) in the history of this format. A cursory look at their records might make it seem that Dhawan was always playing second-fiddle (like Ganguly did to Tendulkar), but there’s more to the story than what meets the eye.
During the first 6 years of their partnership (2013-2018), Dhawan consistently played the aggressor while still scoring at a consistent average of 47. Twelve of his 17 ODI hundreds came during this time. This allowed Rohit Sharma, who was still settling into his role as opener, to bat himself in and be the accumulator. Rohit averaged 10 more during this period but scored at a slower rate making 14 ODI hundreds himself. Dhawan was so good from 2013-2019 that he scored faster than Kohli and Rohit through the first 40 overs of an ODI innings, even though the other two batters, both all-time ODI greats for India, were at their peaks.
Only after 2019, Dhawan’s overall strike rate (at 81) started to suffer and Rohit took his ODI game to the next level scoring by scoring at better than run-a-ball. If we talk about Shikhar Dhawan without mentioning his exploits in ICC tournaments, it would be like discussing India’s 2023 World Cup campaign without talking about Mohammed Shami. The thigh-slapping batter appeared in Indian colors in 5 ICC 50-over tournaments starting with the 2004 U-19 World Cup, the Champions Trophy 2013 & 2017, and two senior World Cups in 2015 and 2019. In four of these 5 tournaments, he was the highest run-scorer for India.
The Champions Trophy of 2013 was perhaps the least expected success. The introduction of two new balls in ODIs and the tournament being held in England led to many claiming that India had no chance to win. Dhawan, playing just his 7th ODI after a 2-year gap, started with two 100s against West Indies and South Africa and set the tone for a victorious campaign. In the World Cup 2015, he scored a big 100 versus South Africa with a solid 70-odd against arch-rivals Pakistan. Even though India failed to get across the line in the final, Dhawan sealed his tag as an “ICC Specialist” in Champions Trophy 2017 scoring another 100 and 2 fifties.
He started the 2019 World Cup in ominous form as well. Scoring a brilliant 117 off 109 balls versus the mighty Aussies to set a win even though he ended up fracturing his thumb and missed the rest of the tournament. India had to adjust and move KL Rahul (who was batting in the middle order until then) to the top and it certainly disturbed India’s balance. What could have been if he was available for that Semi-Final v/s New Zealand can be argued, but the fact that Dhawan was India’s best left-handed opener certainly cannot be argued.
Despite having 6000+ ODI runs, ICC Player of the Series in Champions Trophy 2013, 2nd highest runs in IPL history, and that 85-ball test hundred versus Australia on debut - Dhawan ended up playing just 34 tests at an average of 40 and 68 T20Is at 28/126. Would he be disappointed at these numbers in the other two formats?
Perhaps.
In Tests, the southpaw scored 6 off his 7 100s in Asia, and apart from a solid tour of New Zealand in 2014 - he never quite sealed his spot at the top of the order. Murali Vijay and later KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma pushed him out of the Test XI. In T20Is, despite some good contributions, he wasn’t quite able to increase his scoring rate to align with the rate the game was going.
But he always showed signs of being an even better man, never showing any bitterness or frustration at being left out. Before the 2023 World Cup, he was asked about missing out on a spot in the squad, and all he could come up with was praise for his replacement, young Shubman Gill. Post 2005, world cricket saw some top-notch batters from the likes of Ross Taylor, Hashim Amla, and Eoin Morgan amongst others. Shikhar Dhawan can walk away with pride knowing he belonged in that elite group of ODI batters, in what might go down as the last great era of ODI cricket.