Shikhar Dhawan, a gritty cricketer

Shikhar ‘Gabbar’ Dhawan, aged 38, who had recently announced his retirement from the game, has, over his 12-year career from 2010 to 2022, played 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is, amassing a total of 10,867 runs.

Shikhar Dhawan. | Photo Credit: AFP

Shikhar Dhawan, a gritty cricketer

 

Shikhar ‘Gabbar’ Dhawan, aged 38, who had recently announced his retirement from the game, has, over his 12-year career from 2010 to 2022, played 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is, amassing a total of 10,867 runs.

 

He gained widespread attention during the 2004 ICC U-19 men’s cricket World Cup by scoring 505 runs, including three centuries, which made him the tournament’s leading run-scorer. He made his international debut in 2010 during an ODI against Australia in Visakhapatnam. Despite the unfortunate start of getting out for a second-ball duck, he didn’t let this setback define his career.

 

His career took a turn for the better when he scored an outstanding 187 runs off 174 balls on his Test debut against Australia in Mohali in March 2013. This innings not only marked his redemption but also set a new record — the fastest century by any debutant in Test cricket history, achieved in just 85 balls. It is the highest score by an Indian on debut and the eighth highest in Test cricket history.

 

Known for his prowess in white ball cricket, Dhawan played a crucial role in India’s victory at the 2013 Champions Trophy, finishing as the highest run-scorer with 363 runs at an average of 90.75. He also delivered standout performances in other major tournaments, such as the Asia Cup in 2014 and 2018, the Cricket World Cup in 2015 and 2019, and the Champions Trophy in 2013 and 2017. His performances in the T20 World Cups (2014 and 2016) and Asia T20 Cup (2016) were nothing out of the ordinary, although he top-scored with a 60 in the Asia Cup final against Bangladesh, which won him the Player of the match award.

 

Dhawan’s place in cricket history is unique. He is one of only eight batters in men’s ODI history to have scored over 5000 runs with a batting average of over 40 and a strike rate of over 90. Alongside Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, he is among the few Indian batters who have achieved this feat, marking his name in the annals of cricket history.

 

Shikhar Dhawan’s last international game was an ODI against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2022, and his final competitive game was in the 2024 IPL, where he captained the Punjab Kings. Notably, in the 2020 IPL held in the UAE, Dhawan etched his name in history by becoming the first player to score back-to-back centuries in the tournament, a feat later matched by three others. He also holds the record for hitting the most fours in IPL history.

 

The tables below examine his highs and lows in both international and franchise cricket.

 

Indian openers dismissed for a duck in their ODI debut innings

Balls	Batter	Bat#	Against	Venue	Date	Result
10	K. Srikkanth	2	England	Ahmedabad	25 Nov 1981	Lost
1	Lalchand Rajput#	2	England	Nagpur	23 Jan 1985	Won
3	Wasim Jaffer#	1	South Africa	Durban	22 Nov 2006	Lost
2	Shikhar Dhawan#	1	Australia	Visakhapatnam	20 Oct 2010	Won

# in the second innings

Note: *The Ahmedabad match was the first ODI to be played on Indian soil.

 

Quickest knocks of 100+ by batting strike-rates on Test debut

S/R	Batter	(Runs/Balls)	For	Against	Venue	Month, Year	Result
107.47	Shikhar Dhawan	(187 in 174)	India	Australia	Mohali	Mar 2013	W
100.00	Dwayne Smith#	(105* in 105)	West Indies	South Africa	Cape Town	Jan 2004	D
98.43	Matt Prior	(126* in 128)	England	West Indies	Lord’s	May 2007	D
91.86	Abul Hasan	(113 in 123)	Bangladesh	West Indies	Khulna	Nov 2012	L
88.96	Jimmy Neesham#	(137* in 154)	New Zealand	India	Wellington	Feb 2014	D

# in the second innings

Note: *Dhawan’s 100 came in just 85 balls

 

Quickest knocks of 100+ by batting strike-rates on Test debut for India

S/R	Batter	(Runs/Balls)	Against	Venue	Month, Year	Result
107.47	Shikhar Dhawan	(187 in 174)	Australia	Mohali	Mar 2013	W
87.01	Prithvi Shaw	(134 in 154)	West Indies	Rajkot	Oct 2018	W
61.40	Shreyas Iyer	(105 in 171)	New Zealand	Kanpur	Nov 2021	D
60.69	Virender Sehwag	(105 in 173)	South Africa	Bloemfontein	Nov 2001	L

Note:

# in the second innings

*Prior was the wicket-keeper; Abul Hasan batted at #10

*Dhawan reached his 100th run in just 85 balls, which is the quickest by any debutant in Test cricket history

 

Highest individual scores on Test debut by Asian players

Runs	(Balls)	Batter	For	Against	Venue	Month, Year	Result
201*	(548)	Brendon Kuruppu	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	Colombo CCC	Apr 1987	D
187	(174)	Shikhar Dhawan	India	Australia	Mohali	Mar 2013	W
177	(301)	Rohit Sharma	India	West Indies	Kolkata	Nov 2013	W
171	(387)	Yashasvi Jaiswal	India	West Indies	Roseau	Jul 2023	W
170	(253)	Yasir Hameed	Pakistan	Bangladesh	Karachi	Aug 2003	W

 

Highest individual scores on Test debutant as openers

Runs	(Balls)	Batter	For	Against	Venue	Month, Year	Result
201*	(548)	Brendon Kuruppu	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	Colombo CCC	Apr 1987	D
200	(347)	Devon Conway	England	Lord’s	Lord’s	Jun 2021	D
187	(174)	Shikhar Dhawan	India	Australia	Mohali	Mar 2013	W
171	(217)	Hamish Rutherford	New Zealand	England	Dunedin	Mar 2013	D
171	(387)	Yashasvi Jaiswal	India	West Indies	Roseau	Jul 2023	W

Note: *Only Jaiswal in the above list faced the first ball of the innings

 

Highest individual scores by Test debutants against Australia

Runs	(Balls)	Batter	For	Venue	Month, Year	Result
287	(419+)	Reg Foster	England	Sydney	Dec 1903	W
187	(174)	Shikhar Dhawan	India	Mohali	Mar 2013	W
166	(330+)	Khalid Ibadulla	Pakistan	Karachi	Oct 1964	D
154*	(185+)	K. S. Ranjitsinhji	England	Manchester	Jul 1896	L
152	(294)	W. G. Grace	England	The Oval	Sep 1880	W

+ minutes batted

Note: *Ranji’s knock at Manchester came while following-on.

*The Oval Test was the first to be played on English soil.

 

The Fab-eight in ODI cricket with a batting career average of 40-plus and a 90-plus strike-rate

Ave.	S/R	Batter	(ODI runs)	For	Mts	Inns
58.18	93.54	Virat Kohli	(13906)	India	295	283
53.50	101.09	A. B. de Villiers	(9577)	South Africa+	228	218
49.16	92.43	Rohit Sharma	(10866)	India	265	257
47.00	90.20	Viv Richards	(6721)	West Indies	187	167
45.74	96.65	Quinton de Kock	(6770)	South Africa	155	155
45.30	97.26	David Warner	(6932)	Australia	161	159
44.11	91.35	Shikhar Dhawan	(6793)	India	167	164
40.54	90.44	Shane Watson	(5757)	Australia	190	169

+ also appeared for other sides in few games

The above is listed based on batting averages

 

 

Batters with back-to-back IPL centuries

Batter (for)	Century1	Century2
Shikhar Dhawan (DC)	101* (v CSK at Sharjah, 17 Oct 2020)	106* (v PBKS at Dubai, 20 Oct 2020)
Jos Buttler (RR)	103 (v KKR at Mumbai BS, 18 Apr 2022)	116 (v DC at Mumbai WS, 22 Apr 2022)
Virat Kohli (RCB)	100 (v SRH at Hyderabad, 18 May 2023)	101* (v GT at Bengaluru, 21 May 2023)
Shubman Gill (GT)	101 (v SRH at Ahmedabad, 15 May 2023)	104* (v RCB at Bengaluru, 21 May 2023)

Note:*Kohli and Gill achieved this in the same match!

*These were the only two centuries Dhawan hit in his IPL career.

*These were Gill’s first two centuries of his IPL career. He managed a third one a match later (ie three centuries in four innings!)

 

Maximum ‘fours’ hit during an IPL career

4s	Batter	For	Mts	Inns	6s
768	Shikhar Dhawan	DCh, DD/DC, MI, PBKS, SRH	222	221	152
705	Virat Kohli	RCB	252	244	272
663	David Warner	DC, SRH	184	184	236
599	Rohit Sharma	DCh, MI	257	252	280
506	Suresh Raina	CSK, GL	205	200	203

 

Batters with 500+ runs in an IPL season on most occasions

No	Player	500+ runs in an IPL season
7	David Warner	528 (2014), 562 (2015), 848 (2016), 641 (2017), 692 (2019), 548 (2020), 516 (2023)
7	Virat Kohli	557 (2011), 634 (2013), 505 (2015), 973 (2016), 530 (2018), 639 (2023), 741 (2024)
6	K. L. Rahul	659 (2018), 593 (2019), 670 (2020), 626 (2021), 616 (2022), 520 (2024)
5	Shikhar Dhawan	569 (2012), 501 (2016), 521 (2019), 618 (2020), 587 (2021)

 

All records are correct and updated until 6 Sept 2024.