Veteran India opener Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket on Saturday (August 24), drawing the curtains on a glittering career filled with several memorable performances.
Dhawan made his India debut in an ODI against Australia at Visakhapatnam in 2010 but didn’t have a memorable beginning as he was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
However, after initial failures, the southpaw made his return to the Indian team in 2013 and went on to cement his place across all three formats through remarkable performances.
Dhawan slammed the fastest hundred by a player on Test debut off just 85 balls against Australia at Mohali in 2013, which paved the way for his selection in the Indian ODI team.
In his first major ICC tournament i.e. the Champions Trophy 2013, the swashbuckling left-hander won the ‘golden bat’ for being the highest run scorer. He went on replicate this feat four years later in the same competition in England.
Shikhar Dhawan’s last appearance for India was during the ODI series against Bangladesh in December 2022. He fell out of favour in the last couple of years due to patchy form and emergence of young openers like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Overall, Dhawan represented India in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is, amassing a total of 10,867 runs with 24 centuries across formats.
After Shikhar Dhawan called time on international and domestic career, the members of the Indian cricket fraternity poured in their heartfelt tributes.
Here are the reactions:
