His penchant for scoring big in big tournaments stood out, especially in ODI cricket
Ashish Pant24-Aug-20241:37
Dhawan’s top 10
Early signs of something specialAt the 2004 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, Dhawan gave a glimpse of the kind of batter he would turn out to be. He smashed 505 runs, at an average of 84.16 and a strike rate of 93.51, to finish as the highest run-getter in the tournament, clear of second-placed Alastair Cook by more than 100 runs. In seven innings, Dhawan hit three centuries and a fifty, and was named Player of the Tournament for his role in India’s run to the semi-final. Dhawan’s tally was a record for the most runs in a single edition of the U-19 World Cup until South Africa’s Dewald Brevis bettered it by one run in 2022.A Test debut to rememberDhawan made his India debut in an ODI in 2010, but it wasn’t until 2013 that he got a proper run in the national side.It started with his Test debut against Australia in March 2013. He admitted being nervous remembering his ODI debut, which was also against Australia, where he fell for a two-ball duck. But there was no sign of nerves as he went about scoring a sparkling century in Mohali.Coming off 85 balls, it remains the fastest century by a Test debutant. He finished on 187, which is the highest score by an India batter on Test debut and the eighth-highest overall.”I wasn’t really playing in a hurry,” he said afterwards. “The fours were coming on their own after the ball hit the bat. I felt my shot selection was good and I played according to how I’d assessed the wicket. I didn’t feel that I rushed things. There was no strategy, I was hitting the ball well, I was middling the ball very nicely and the runs came on their own.”Shikhar Dhawan savours his century on Test debut•BCCIIndia’s Champions Trophy heroBefore the 2013 Champions Trophy in England, Dhawan had played five ODIs in two-and-a-half years – all between 2010 and 2011 – and scored 69 runs. That would change soon. He began with back-to-back centuries against South Africa and West Indies. Then came a 48 against Pakistan, 68 against Sri Lanka and 31 off 24 balls against England in the rain-affected final. He finished the tournament with 363 runs in five innings, at an average of 90.75 and a strike rate of 101.39. India won the title.”I’d dreamt of this, I’m really happy with it,” Dhawan said after collecting the player-of-the-tournament award. “The bouncy tracks suit my game. I worked hard in practice and in the warm-up games. It makes it more special because I was out of the side for a few years.”A List A highThe year 2013 was Dhawan’s through and through. Riding a wave of confidence from his Test and Champions Trophy exploits, Dhawan turned out for India A away against South Africa A, and ran the hosts absolutely ragged in Pretoria.Related
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Batting first in a List A game, he smashed 248 off just 150 balls with 30 fours and seven sixes as India A piled on 433 for 3 in 50 overs. When Dhawan was dismissed there were still 32 deliveries left in the innings and Dhawan later admitted “if I had batted till the end, I had a chance to score a triple hundred”.It was an innings that left everyone impressed, from then head coach Lalchand Rajput to the opposition captain Justin Ontong, who described the innings as a “highlights package”.Dhawan’s 248 at the time was the second-highest List A score in the world and currently ranks third for an India batter behind N Jagadeesan’s 277 against Arunachal Pradesh and Rohit Sharma’s 264 against Sri Lanka in an ODI.India’s go-to man at ICC tournamentsDhawan soon developed a penchant for big scoring in big tournaments.After the Champions Trophy, he topped the run chart for India at the 2015 ODI World Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy. In the 2019 ODI World Cup, he smashed a century against Australia before being ruled out of the tournament with a fractured thumb. Among those who scored at least 1000 runs in ICC’s ODI tournaments – the World Cup and the Champions Trophy – Dhawan has the highest average: 65.15. In 20 matches, he scored 1238 runs, with six hundreds and four fifties.Not to forget, Dhawan was India’s highest run-getter even at the 2014 and 2018 Asia Cups – talk about saving his best for the big stages.ESPNcricinfo LtdProlific in the IPLDhawan represented five teams in the IPL: Delhi Capitals (and Delhi Daredevils), Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings. He finishes as the second-highest run-getter in IPL history, with 6769 runs in 222 games at 35.25 and a strike rate of 127.14.It took him 167 IPL innings to score his first IPL century, against Chennai Super Kings in 2020, and he quickly added another one in the next game against Punjab Kings, becoming the first to score back-to-back IPL centuries.He also holds the record for the most fours (768) in the IPL and is third on the list for the most 50-plus scores: 53.