India's 'golden' batsman Shikhar Dhawan, the man of the moment

New Delhi: Explosive left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan won the 'golden bat' for scoring the most runs in the tournament, after India beat England by five runs in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy at Edgbaston on Sunday. The opener scored 363 runs from five matches at an average of 90.75. He hit two centuries and a half-century with a highest of 114. Shikhar Dhawan, born 5 December 1985, in Delhi is a left-handed opening batsman and occasional right-arm offbreak bowler. He made his first-class debut for Delhi in November 2004. He plays for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Indian Premier League. Nine years ago, he shot to prominence at the Under-19 World Cup but despite his amazing batting skills, extraordinary fielding and fitness levels, Shikhar's erratic career record did not help his position in the team. His time in the India squad had been all of five ODIs and a T20 International in 2011. His record of smacking that amazing 187 against Australia at Mohali, the fastest century in Test cricket by a debutant, came in his ninth year of first-class cricket, after he had been written off by almost everybody. Dhawan became the third batsman after former great opener Srikkanth and MS Dhoni to complete 100 runs in less than 100 balls in two formats of the game, Test match and ODI cricekt. By the time he scored that 187, Shikhar had by then spent almost a decade in first-class cricket waiting it out as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir successfully occupied the opening slots. For one who looks so menacing and speaks with a macho Punjabi accent, he can be incredibly romantic and gentle. Which brings us to his love life and wife. Shikhar and his wife Aesha met on Facebook. Ever since Dhawan tied the knot with lady love Ayesha Mukherjee from Australia his career seems to have moved forward by leaps and bounds. The details of Ayesha and Dhawan's meeting are extremely interesting. A major role in their coming together was played by Harbhajan Singh, a common friend to both. They were engaged way back in 2009 but Dhawan whose career seemed to be going nowhere kept postponing the marriage for three long years. Finally, in 2012, he took the plunge and it seems to have worked wonders for him. Shikhar had first disclosed his love for Ayesha during IPL-5. He had then said that he would be getting married at the end of the year which he did. While Shikhar has been delighting fans with his fours and sixes on the field, his wife Ayesha, also a sports freak, loves boxing. She enjoys cricket too, however, and never misses an opportunity to watch him play. Ayesha is of mixed Anglo-Indian descent. Her father is Bengali while her mother is English. She and Harbhajan have been close friends for a long time now. It was Bhajji who introduced the two. The two were married on October 30th, 2012. Ever since their marriage his career seems to have moved forward by leaps and bounds.