Shikhar Dhawan retires: India's star opening batter Shikhar Dhawan on Saturday morning announced his retirement from International and domestic cricket, bidding adieu to an illustrious career.
Dhawan, who donned the Indian colours for 14 years, walks into the sunset as one of the most successful Indian openers, especially in the ODI format. He made his India debut in 2010 against Australia in Visakhapatnam and got dismissed for a two-ball duck in his first outing. While the start to his ODI career was not exactly the one which many would have liked, the beginning of his Test career was the stuff of dreams.
Dhawan made his Test debut two and half years later in 2013 - against the same opponent in Australia in Mohali. The Southpaw announced himself immediately, smashing a record-breaking century.
Dhawan hit his maiden Test hundred in just 85 balls, which is the fastest for a Test debutant until now. He went on to put 187 in that innings, which is the highest by an Indian debutant in the red-ball format. This is also the eight-best score on debut around the world.
Dhawan is synonymous with the tag of a big tournament player. He has amassed 1238 runs in ICC 50-over tournaments and has the best average in the world in the list of batters with over 1000 runs in these events. His average of 65.15 is marginally better than the second-placed Virat Kohli's 64.55.
Dhawan made the decision to hang his boots on Saturday morning. "I am standing at that juncture in my life where I can only see the past memories. My dream was always to play for India and it came true and for that I'm grateful to a lot of people. My family, my coaches Tarak Sinha and Madan Sharma, under whom I learnt to play cricket. Also my team, the people I played with for years. I got another family in them. I got fame and fortune and the love of everyone," Dhawan said in a video message on his social media.
"But it's important to turn the page to move forward in life and that's why I am announcing my retirement from international and domestic cricket.
"And now that I'm concluding my cricket journey, there's peace in my heart, that I played a lot for my country. I'm grateful to all my fans for all the love. I've told myself don't feel sad that you won't play for India anymore, but feel happy that you played for the country," he added.
