Happy Birthday Shikhar Dhawan - India's X-factor in ICC events and an Australia tormentor

Shikhar Dhawan had an interesting back story to his Test debut. He was in danger of being the junior World Cup star left behind by his peers. He was out for a duck on ODI debut in October 2010, and managed only 69 in four ODIs in the West Indies after the 2011 World Cup. The player of the tournament in the Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka 2004 had been overtaken in Tests, ODIs and T20Is by Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and RP Singh, to name a few. In 18 first-class matches in India before his Test debut, he scored six centuries and five fifties; he averaged 63.90 in 2012-13.

Dhawan made his Test debut in Mohali and he wandered out of his crease and got himself Mankaded when the ball slipped out of Mitchell Starc's hand as he ran in to bowl, and hit the stumps with Dhawan well short of his ground. He attacked, but until he reached his century did so in the old-fashioned way: along the ground, using eyes, hands, feet and timing to drill his way through gaps and to speed past fielders who believed they had the angles covered. It was low-risk execution in high-quality strokeplay. It produced the fastest Test century by a debutant (off 85 balls), and the highest score by an Indian Test debutant. Dhawan had truly arrived. (Image credit: Twitter)

Shikhar Dhawan had scored a century in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup against Australia. This continued the opener's excellent form in ICC tournaments having previously starred in the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and 2013. He ended up as the highest run-scorer in the two Champions Trophy tournaments scoring 363 runs in 2013 and 338 runs in 2017. He was also India's highest run-scorer in the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia with 412 runs. He scored two centuries in the tournament with a highest of 137 against South Africa.

In all, he has scored 1,238 runs in 20 ICC tournament matches at an average of 65.15. He also has a great record batting at The Oval where he has scored 443 runs in 5 innings including three hundreds and a fifty. India has also won 4 out of the five ICC tournament matches where he has scored a century. (Image credit:Twitter)

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have revolutionsed the way India perform in ODIs and T20Is. Dhawan credited the trust factor with Rohit Sharma as the reason behind their successful opening partnership for India in one-dayers. With 16 century stands between them, the Indian duo are joint second with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden in the most hundred-run partnerships in the list led by compatriots Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (21). They have also scored 4000 runs as an openining duo and are one of the reasons for India's success.

“I know him (Rohit) from U-19 days. He was a junior by one-two years and we have camped together. We trust each other and have a great friendship, it works for us,” Dhawan said in an Instagram chat hosted by his IPL franchise Delhi Capitals. “We both know each other’s nature and characters. I know how he is exactly. It’s a proud feeling that we have done so well for India.” The 34-year-old said their off-the-field chemistry has worked well for them. (Image credit: Twitter)

Shikhar Dhawan played in his 100th ODI, scored his 13th ODI century and became the first batsman for India to score a century in his 100th ODI. After this match, he became the most prolific run-getter for India at the end of 100th ODI. He scored 323 runs in six ODIs as India won the series of 5–1. In the T20I series Dhawan scored most runs, with 143 runs at an average of 47.67 and a strike rate of 156.76. On 25 February 2018, Shikhar Dhawan was named vice-captain of India for the T20 Tri-series in Sri Lanka.

On 14 June 2018, Dhawan became the only Indian and sixth overall player to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test match, against Afghanistan in their first ever Test. Dhawan was awarded the Player of the Series for scoring 117 runs in 2 innings, at an average of 58.50, with scores of a 76 and 41, in the T20I series of India tour of Australia 2018/19, as India has drew the 3-match series 1-1. In 2018, he scored the most runs in T20Is by any cricketer, with 689 runs. (Image credit: Twitter)

In IPL 2020, Shikhar Dhawan became the first batsman in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) to score back-to-back hundreds and on the same day, he became the fifth batsman to cross the 5000 runs mark in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after David Warner. Dhawan played for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League and made 4 half centuries. He was also the third-highest scorer of the Delhi Daredevils team. He was traded to the Mumbai Indians in exchange for Ashish Nehra. He has played for the Mumbai Indians in the second and third season of the IPL. For the fourth season, he was bought by the Deccan Chargers.

Gabbar or The One has indeed been one of the most popular figures in the Indian cricket team. Happy 35^th birthday, Shikhar Dhawan. Truly, a rockstar. (Image credit: Twitter)