Shikhar Dhawan, known as Gabbar of the Indian cricket team, has announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket. Shikhar Dhawan, one of India’s best opening batsmen, has announced his retirement from international cricket.
Along with announcing his retirement, the 38-year-old Dhawan made it clear that he will continue to play league cricket, especially in the IPL. It is worth noting that Shikhar Dhawan, who last played an ODI for India in December 2022 against Bangladesh. During his career, Shikhar has scored 10,867 runs in 269 matches, including 24 centuries, 44 half-centuries and has been one of the mainstays of Indian batting in the last decade.
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, Shikhar Dhawan said that this is not a difficult decision for me. Nor am I emotional. I don’t want to cry or anything else. This is gratitude and love. I have spent most of my life playing cricket. I think I am now in a position where I would like to take a break from international and domestic cricket.
It is worth noting that Shikhar Dhawan’s talent was seen during the Under 19 World Cup in the year 2004. During this time he scored 505 runs with the help of three centuries. Dhawan, who emerged late, made his debut for India during an ODI against Australia in 2010, where he was dismissed for zero off two balls. A year later he represented India in four more ODIs against the West Indies, in which he scored 51 runs. However, Dhawan did not make his debut until the 2013 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, in which he scored the fastest century off 85 balls.
Dhawan said, “My Test debut is my personal favourite. I came into the team and made a record. I scored 187 runs. I always dreamt of playing for India and making a world record. I didn’t even know about the world record. I was happy to have secured my place in the Test team.”
Dhawan’s stellar start in Tests paved the way for his return to ODIs. In the 2013 Champions Trophy, MS Dhoni introduced a brand new opening pair of Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Dhawan scored consecutive centuries against South Africa and West Indies and the rest…as they say…is history. Dhawan scored 363 runs and won the Player of the Tournament award. This title was very special as it was the first time India won the title.
Shikhar Dhawan has proven himself to be India’s go-to player for ICC tournaments. He became India’s top scorer in the 2015 World Cup with 412 runs in eight matches at an average of 51.5 and his hundred against South Africa – a brilliant 137 runs innings is considered one of the best knocks of his career. Dhawan also had an unstoppable performance in the 2017 Champions Trophy by scoring 338 runs. Together with Rohit, Dhawan forms India’s second most successful opening pair in ODIs after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. In fact, Rohit and Dhawan have scored 5148 runs in 115 innings with 18 centuries at an average of 45.55, making them the fourth-highest opening pair of all time.
