Cricket’s Gabbar

Delhi is a state that has given many prominent players to Indian cricket. Players who have done well at the international stage and won many games for the country, players who have the mindset to dominate each and every game they play. One such player, who played with all his ‘Jigra’ during his cricketing days was Mr.ICC aka Shikhar Dhawan. 

Dhawan was a player who always stood up for the team on big occasions. He was a left-handed opening batter. His batting style was very fluent and one could see a natural butterfly flow in his strokes. He had all the shots in his kitty and that was the primary reason why used to become a headache for the opponent team’s bowler. 

Early life and domestic cricket 

Born on 5 December, 1985, Shikhar attended St. Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School, Delhi. He used to practice at Sonnet Club under Mr. Tarak Sinha. Initially he started as a wicket keeper but soon he became a pure batter. 

His journey as a professional crocketer started when he was picked for Vijay Merchant Trophy to play U16 for Delhi. In the 2000-01 season, he became the leading run scorer in the same tournament by smashing 755 runs in 9 innings. His performance in the domestic circuit earned him a call in India U16 squad in 2001.  

Then, At age 15, he was selected in Delhi’s U19 team in Cooch Behar Trophy as well. In 2003, he was picked in north zone team. In 2004, he was picked in U19 Indian team and was named player of the tournament as he scored 505 runs with an average of 84.16. His graph went up as he was constantly performing and making a name of himself. 

 Finally, In 2004, he was introduced to senior cricket as he made his first class debut then.  Because of his performance there, he was picked in the Challenger Trophy. In 2005-06 season, he played for Board President XI also. Then next season, Delhi won the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy season and Dhawan made a significant contribution as he scored 570 runs in 8 matches. With his constant grind at the domestic level, he was picked in the Irani Cup and later for the Indian team as well. 

International career

Shikhar Dhawan played all the three formats for the country. He made his ODI debut on 20 October, 2010 V Australia, T20I debut on 4 June, 2011 V West Indies and Test debut on 14 March, 2013 V Australia. 

Shikhar’s batting average in World Cups and Champions Trophy is 65.15, which is quite insane! Despite his consistent performance at the ICC events, he was dropped a little early. He always provided a balance to the Indian side. The left-right opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan always created trouble to bowlers and then they both used to capitalize that by converting it into huge scores. Despite his contributions though, he got replaced by Shubhman Gill as the selectors started to promote youngsters in the team. 

Dhawan played his Last Test on 7 September, 2018 V England, last  T20I on 29 July, 2021 V Sri Lanka and last ODI on 10 December, 2022 V Bangladesh. Since then he has been playing franchise cricket in India. However, he officially announced his retirement on 25th August, 2024 and that was the day when the king of comebacks gave away his crown. 

International stats

Notable achievements 

• Won 2013 Champions Trophy, 2016 and 2018 Asia Cup 
• Fastest test century by a debutant 187 off 174
• Golden bat at 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and 2017 ICC Champions Trophy 
• Only player to get 2 golden bats at ICC Champions Trophy 
• Wisden cricketer of the year in 2014
• Arjuna Award in 2021
• Fastest Indian batsman to reach 1000, 2000, 3000 ODI runs 
• Most number of ODI centuries in 2013 
• Leading run scorer in 2015 World Cup

IPL

In the IPL, Gabbar has played for five franchises over the span of 16 years. Those franchises were: 

Dhawan has featured in 222 IPL games, scoring 6,769 runs with an average of 35.26. He has registered 2 tons and 51 fifties by his name with his highest score being 106*.