He represented India in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is.
For a long time, Shikhar Dhawan, who was nicknamed Mr ICC, stepped up for India in most of the major ICC tournaments. With 412 runs in eight matches, he was India’s top scorer in the ODI World Cup 2015. He was named Player of the Tournament for amassing 363 runs in five matches.
He also ended the Champions Trophy 2017 as the leading run-getter.
Shikhar Dhawan’s last match for India was in an ODI against Bangladesh in December 2022. That series also coincided with the rise of Ishan Kishan, who scored a match-winning double century in the third match in Chattogram. At that time, Dhawan was consistently scoring 50s and 70s, but according to the Delhi cricketer, he knew that his career was over when Kishan scored that double ton.
“I was scoring lots of 50s, I didn’t score a 100 but I scored lots of 70s. When Ishan Kishan scored that 200, my instinct told me, alright boy, this can be the end of your career. An inner voice came to me. And that’s what happened,” Shikhar Dhawan told the Hindustan Times during an exclusive interview.
“Then I remember my friends came over to you know, give me that emotional support. They thought that I would be very down. But I was chilling, I was enjoying,” he added.
The 39-year-old managed to score just three runs in his final ODI outing, wherein India clinched a 227-run win. In August 2024, the veteran announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
When asked if any of his teammates contacted him after being dropped from the side, Dhawan said, “No, it doesn’t happen that way. Maybe I spoke to Rahul [Dravid] bhai. He messaged me. Everyone has their own journey and they are doing work or they are on tours, that’s something very normal. We are used to it from the age of under 14, this is not the first time I am getting dropped or getting in.”
During his 12-year international career, Dhawan represented India in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is. He scored 2,315, 6,793, and 1,759 runs across the three formats, respectively. He formed a crucial part of India’s top-order batting lineup for several years.
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Dhawan being dropped from the national side also coincided with the rise of Shubman Gill, who toppled him to make India’s 15-member squad for the ODI World Cup 2023. Gill ended up scoring 354 runs from nine matches, including four half-centuries.
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