After a short hiatus, Shikhar Dhawan has returned to the India squad for the upcoming series against Australia and New Zealand. Let’s take a moment to reflect on his cricketing career in recent years. Dhawan saw a predominant part of his cricketing success in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, where he scored 363 runs in five matches. At the final in Birmingham, India went on to beat England by 5 runs and lift the coveted trophy. Dhawan was adjudged Man of the series. A regular fixture in the Indian team since 2013, Dhawan had averaged well above 50 in the nine series he had played. But in 2016, despite a healthy ODI average of 57, he managed a meagre 26 in Tests and was eventually dropped post a poor performance in the home series against New Zealand. After missing out on the entire England campaign, Dhawan was later reinstated into the team for the Champions Trophy 2017. This time though, and much like his marquee mustache, he was looking to turn things around and make amends. Maintaining momentum from the last Champions Trophy in 2013, Dhawan amassed another 338 runs in the ICC tournament and earned himself the Golden Bat. By doing so, he became the highest run-getter in Champions Trophy history, surpassing Sourav Ganguly’s record of 665 runs. In just 16 innings, Dhawan also broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record (18) of becoming the fastest batsman to reach 1000 runs in ICC ODI events. More recently, Dhawan performed exceptionally well in the Sri Lanka series – hitting hundreds in the Tests as well as ODIs. His 71-ball hundred in the first ODI in Dambulla was the quickest of his career. Overall, Dhawan helped India set the stage for a soon-to-be series whitewash. Contrary to his good-humoured villainous nickname ‘Gabbar’, Shikhar Dhawan has been a batting hero and a run-scoring juggernaut in ODI cricket. – Varun Kumar | SpreadSports
The Run-scoring Juggernaut Rolls On
