sports desk16 minutes ago
- copy link
Veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has taken retirement from international cricket. Dhawan played 34 Tests, 167 ODIs and 68 T20 matches for India.
38 year old Dhawan is famous among the fans as Gabbar. He is known for his strong batting and all-round nature. He is also liked for fearless opening. Dhawan has made 18 century partnerships with Rohit Sharma in ODIs. Shikhar had played an innings of 187 runs in the debut test. He is the Indian batsman who scored the highest score in the debut test.
In this story, know some such facts due to which Dhawan is called Gabbar of cricket. Also interesting statistics of his career…
1. When hitting a century with a fractured thumb
During the 2019 ODI World Cup, Pat Cummins’ ball hit Shikhar Dhawan’s thumb against Australia. Dhawan’s thumb was broken after being hit by a 150 kmph ball, but Shikhar continued batting with the broken thumb. He scored a century in this match. He played an inning of 117 runs. Dhawan had called it his favourite.
In this match, Dhawan had an opening partnership of 127 runs with Rohit Sharma and 93 runs with Virat Kohli. Dhawan’s innings included 16 fours. India won this match by 36 runs.
2. Taal Thonk celebration became Dhawan’s trademark
Dhawan’s Taal Thonk or Kabaddi style celebration is very popular among the fans. Whenever he takes a catch, he celebrates by clapping on the field. He did this celebration for the first time after taking the catch of Shane Watson during the Australia tour, which was very much liked. After this celebration, fans gave him the title of Gabbar. This celebration became his trademark.
On this celebration, Dhawan says, ‘I love watching Kabaddi. I find this quite entertaining. I do all this from my heart. Perhaps this is why fans also like it. Whenever I field on the boundary, I see fans imitating me and celebrating in Kabaddi style.
Shikhar Dhawan did a thunderous celebration for the first time against Australia.
3. When Dhawan was dropped from Team India
Dhawan played his last ODI match on 10 December 2022 in Chattogram. This was also his last international match. Before this tour, Dhawan was made the captain of the Indian team on the Sri Lanka tour. Then he was dropped from the team, even though that year Dhawan had scored more than a thousand runs in all formats.
Shikhar Dhawan had scored 1075 runs with the help of 9 fifties in 2021 and 2022.
Interesting facts about Dhawan’s career from here…
1. Scored a century in the debut test, also made a record
Shikhar Dhawan played a century inning of 187 runs in the debut test. He became the Indian batsman who scored the highest score on Test debut. Dhawan is at number 8 among batsmen around the world. Dhawan had scored a century in just 85 balls against Australia in Mohali, which is the fastest century on debut.
Dhawan had completed his century in just 85 balls against Australia in Mohali.
2. Best average in Champions Trophy and World Cup
Dhawan scored runs at an average of 65.15 during the Champions Trophy and ODI World Cup. Dhawan has the highest average among the 51 batsmen who have scored at least one thousand runs in these two tournaments, although Kohli (64.55) is not far behind him in this matter. Dhawan averaged 53.70 in the ODI World Cup (10 innings) and 77.88 in the Champions Trophy (10 innings). He scored 6 centuries in 20 innings and crossed the 50 mark 10 times.
Dhawan’s average in the Champions Trophy and ODI World Cup was 65.15.
3. Made 18 century partnerships with Rohit
Shikhar Dhawan, while opening with Rohit Sharma, made 18 century partnerships in ODIs. This pair is the second most successful Indian pair after Tendulkar-Ganguly. The opening pair of Sachin and Sourav have made 21 century partnerships. Rohit and Dhawan had a total partnership of 5148 runs, which is fourth in the overall opening partnership.
Dhawan-Rohit pair made 18 century partnerships in ODIs.
4. Scored 6 thousand runs in 140 innings, only 4 batsmen could do this
Shikhar scored 6000 ODI runs in 140 innings. Only 4 batsmen have achieved this achievement in less innings than Dhawan. These include Hashim Amla, Kohli, Kane Williamson and David Warner.
5. Among the 10 batsmen who scored a century in the 100th ODI
Shikhar Dhawan played an innings of 109 runs against South Africa in his 100th ODI match. Dhawan’s name is also included among the 10 batsmen who scored a century in their 100th match in this format.
6. Scored most fours in IPL, top-2 scorer of the league
Shikhar Dhawan has scored 6769 runs in the Indian Premier League. He is the second top scorer of IPL. Kohli has scored 8004 runs more than Dhawan. The 768 fours hit by Dhawan in IPL are the most fours hit by any batsman in the league. After him comes Kohli, who has hit 765 fours.
Dhawan is the batsman who has scored the most fours in IPL. He has scored 768 fours.
7. Scored 500+ runs 5 times in IPL season, fourth batsman
Shikhar Dhawan has scored more than 500 runs 5 times in an IPL season. He scored more than 500 runs 5 times (2012, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021). Only Virat Kohli (7 times), David Warner (7 times) and KL Rahul (6 times) have scored more than 500 runs in an IPL season more times than Dhawan. In 2018, Dhawan missed scoring 500 runs by a few runs. He scored 497 runs that season.
Now some interesting facts about Dhawan
- In Asia, Dhawan scored at a test average of 61. In 24 innings, he scored 1403 runs with the help of six centuries, however, in 34 innings played outside Asia, he scored only 982 runs with the help of an average of 26.82 and one century.
- Dhawan scored 12 out of 17 centuries in ODIs outside India. He has scored runs in ODIs outside Asia at an average of 44.03 and a strike rate of 89.34. This record is even better in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand. In a total of 69 innings played in these four countries, he scored runs at an average of 46.68 and strike rate of 91.73 and also scored eight centuries.
