Former India opener Shikhar Dhawan has candidly opened up about the moment he realised his ODI career might be over, and it had everything to do with Ishan Kishan’s explosive double hundred against Bangladesh in 2022. Shubman Gill’s rise as an all-format opener also played a massive part.
For a batter who had been a pillar of India’s white-ball setup for nearly a decade, the end came not with poor form but with the arrival of younger, hungrier competition. But as he is, a larger-than-life character, Dhawan never really took it to heart and gelled his way post-retirement.
‘Ishan Kishan’s 200 & my career was over’
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dhawan said his instincts kicked in the day Kishan smashed a 210 in Chattogram — the youngest player at the time to score a double century in ODIs. While Kishan was himself not a first-choice opener, his double hundred pushed Dhawan even further back in the pecking order. The Delhi-born’s age wasn’t on his side as well.
“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,” said Dhawan. “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.”
Interestingly, Dhawan was also playing that game and he made just three runs off eight balls before being dismissed by current Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz. It proved to be Dhawan’s last one-day international appearance. Despite being India’s highest run-getter in multiple ICC tournaments and boasting a 65+ average in global ODI events, Dhawan never played for India again after that Bangladesh tour.
A bona fide ODI player: Shikhar Dhawan
From the 2013 Champions Trophy to the 2019 World Cup, Dhawan was a cornerstone of India’s ODI success. Between 2013 and 2022, only Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma outscored him in ODIs. Yet, in the race to secure a 2023 World Cup opening spot, Dhawan couldn’t match the pace pace of Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan, both of whom made the final squad.
Dhawan admitted that his ODI average of 34.40 in 2022 wasn’t disastrous, but it coincided with the meteoric rise of the youngsters. To make matters worse, he only managed 18 runs in his final series against Bangladesh.
Player Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Virat Kohli 145 7723 160* 65.44 97.21 30 34 Rohit Sharma 133 6966 264 59.53 92.57 26 31 Shikhar Dhawan 126 5449 143 45.78 94.83 17 26 MS Dhoni 108 3752 139* 48.10 85.93 2 27 Most ODI runs for India between 2013 to 2019 Dhawan also revealed he received little to no communication from the team management after being dropped.
“No, it doesn’t happen that way. Maybe I spoke to Rahul (Dravid) bhai. He messaged me. Everyone has their own journey. We are used to this since Under-14,” he said.
The left-hander now continues to play franchise cricket, including a stint in Nepal’s T20 league and the Legends League, content with his journey and at peace with how it ended.
