SL v IND 2021: Shikhar Dhawan could surpass Sourav Ganguly's record in 1st ODI

The Indian opener needs 23 runs to reach 6,000 ODI runs landmark.

India is all set to start their limited-overs series against Sri Lanka this Sunday (July 18) under the new leadership of Shikhar Dhawan. The team will be missing the services of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as both the players are in England for the Test series.

The opening ODI could bring another personal feat for the new captain, as he is nearing the 6,000 runs mark in ODIs. Dhawan has scored 5,977 runs in 139 ODI innings at an average of 45.28 and a healthy strike rate of 93.9.

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If Dhawan reaches the feat in the first ODI of the series, he would be the second fastest Indian and tenth Indian overall to reach the landmark, just behind Virat Kohli who reached there in 136 innings. With that, the left hander will also surpass the former Indian captain and current head of BCCI, Sourav Ganguly who reached the feat in 147 innings.

While Dhawan might have enough innings to surpass the former Indian skipper, he will need to go past the 23-run mark in the first ODI to become the fourth-fastest in the world, going past the likes of Joe Root and Sir Viv Richards (they both reached the milestone in 141 innings).

Here are some other achievements that Dhawan may accomplish during the series:

• Dhawan will be the oldest Indian to be on captaincy debut (35 years 225 days).
• Dhawan would be India’s 25^th ODI captain to lead the side.
• Dhawan needs 17 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs against Sri Lanka. He would also be the fastest Indian to reach the mark.
• Dhawan needs 35 runs to reach 10,000 international runs mark. He would be the 14^th Indian to reach this landmark.