Shikhar Dhawan's love affair with the ICC Champions Trophy continued as he became the fastest batsman to score 1000 runs in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments, surpassing batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar. The 31-year-old opener reached the milestone during India's do-or-die match against South Africa at The Oval on Sunday in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2017. (INDIA vs SOUTH AFRICA - HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD)
Dhawan, who reached the 1000-run mark with a boundary off South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir in India's chase of 192, has taken two innings less than Tendulkar to complete the milestone. It had taken Tendulkar 18 innings to get to his 1000 runs, while Dhawan reached there in just in 16th innings.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is the third fastest Indian batsman to do so in 20 innings.
Dhawan was dismissed for 78 as India defeated SOuth Africa by 8 wickets to seal their place in the semi-finals of the tournament. This was Dhawan's second half century in this edition.
The Delhi southpaw has been in tremendous form in this edition of the mega event, scoring 68 and 125 in India's first two games against Pakistan and Sri Lankan, respectively.
In fact, Champions Trophy has been a lucky hunting ground for Dhawan. He had scored two centuries during India's title winning campaign in the last edition in 2013 and now has three triple digit scores in Champions Trophy to his name. In the 2013 edition, Dhawan averaged 90.75 with two hundreds in five innings and won the Man of the Series award.
Dhawan's liking for ICC tournaments began way back in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, where he scored 505 runs with three centuries in seven innings. In the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Dhawan scored 412 at an average of 51.50. He is also the leading run-getter in ICC ODI tournaments since 2013.
