Veteran India opener Shikhar Dhawan brought down the curtains on his international and domestic cricket careers on Saturday (August 24).
During his glittering career, the southpaw played a number of remarkable innings at the highest level. He slammed the fastest hundred by a player on Test debut off just 85 balls against Australia at Mohali in 2013, and won the ‘golden bat’ for being the highest run scorer during India’s Champions Trophy triumph in the same year.
However, Dhawan picked his knock of 117 against Australia during the 2019 World Cup as his favourite as it displayed his grit and determination.
During the ninth over of the match at The Oval, a delivery from Pat Cummins struck Dhawan's thumb and the scans later revealed a fracture. But the left-hander did not leave the field and continued batting after taking painkillers. He eventually went on to smash a match-winning hundred (117 off 109 balls).
"I have a few favourite innings that are close to my heart, especially the 2019 World Cup. We were playing a match against Australia. I was batting on 25 when I broke my thumb. The ball came at 150 clicks and hit my here (pointing towards his left thumb). I popped painkillers and scored 117 from there," Dhawan told Hindustan Times.
The 38-year-old also mentioned that his century (137 off 146) against South Africa during the 2015 World Cup at MCG isn’t too far behind.
"The MCG one was also a very good knock of mine. More so because I wasn't scoring runs prior to it. I am thankful to Dhoni for backing me and persisting with me in the World Cup. I was always able to play well in ODIs, but the occasional dip in form is inevitable. That's when I scored those 137 runs. I like that one too," he added.
Shikhar Dhawan recalled the time he spent sharing the dressing room alongside batting stalwarts like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The trio was an integral part of the Indian top-order from June 2013 to June 2019, and slammed an incredible 103 centuries across all formats among them.
Dhawan was also grateful for the support he received from all the coaches during his international career.
"So many coaches have played a part in my career. Duncan Fletcher, Sanjay Bangar, Vikram Rathour, Rahul Dravid, Ravi Shastri. Then all the fielding coaches, batting coaches. I am thankful to all of them who worked on me.
“We were part of a beautiful journey together. I clearly remember that Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and I scored 100 centuries in 5 years. Ravi bhai was our coach then. Even NCA has played such a huge role, understood how training and rehab is done whenever I got injured. And a big thank you to the BCCI as well,” Dhawan said.
Dhawan represented India in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is, scoring a total of 10,867 runs with 24 centuries across formats. His last international appearance was during the ODI series against Bangladesh in December 2022.
