Ravi Shastri believes India wouldn’t have lost the semi-final to New Zealand had Shikhar Dhawan not been forced out of the 2019 World Cup with a broken thumb following a century in the league phase against Australia.
That innings at The Oval turned out to be the last of his 17 ODI hundreds. Opener Dhawan formed a lethal top-order combination with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in ODIs, though he rarely got the credit he deserved.
Struggling to maintain his form and fitness, left-handed Dhawan, 38, announced
his retirement from international and domestic cricket through a social media post on Saturday morning.
“It’s important to turn the page to move forward in life... I am announcing my retirement from international and domestic cricket,” Dhawan said. “I am leaving with peace in my heart that I played for so long for India.”
In all, he has 6793 runs in 167 ODIs at an average of 44.11. In 34 Tests, he scored 2315 runs at an average of 40.61 with seven centuries, and in 68 T20Is, 1759 runs.
Dhawan’s career hit a high in 2013 — he was the Player of the Series with a chart-topping 363 runs in five innings, with two centuries, in India’s title-winning run at the Champions Trophy.
‘Gabbar’ to his teammates, he was also the highest scorer in Asia Cup 2014, World Cup 2015, Champions Trophy 2017 and Asia Cup 2018.
“We lost the 2019 World Cup semis... and he was the missing man there,” the then head coach Shastri lamented.
Therein lies Dhawan’s legacy as a match-winner.
