Shikhar Dhawan, the former opener for India, disclosed on Wednesday that he decided to retire from the game last month because he had lost the “inspiration” to pursue a spot in the national team through domestic cricket. After playing 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is for India between 2013 and 2022, the 38-year-old Dhawan announced his retirement from domestic and international cricket late in August.
Before this year’s ODI World Cup, Shikhar Dhawan had to make way for a younger batter named Shubman Gill. He made his farewell international appearance for India in December 2022. As a genuine IPL icon, he left the stadium having played in 222 games and amassed 6769 runs, including two hundred and 51 half-centuries. Not only was he the first batter in the competition to hit hundreds in a row, but he also led all batters in the event with 768 fours.
Shikhar Dhawan Quits Domestic Cricket
Photo by Alessandro Bogliari on UnsplashIn an interview with PTI on the fringes of the Legends League Cricket, an event for retired cricket players that he signed up for after quitting the game internationally, the-38-year-old said, “I didn’t want to play domestic cricket, which I started playing at the age of 18 or 19. I didn’t have that inspiration from inside to play that (form) cricket.” In a June 2021 ODI against Sri Lanka, Shikhar Dhawan replaced Rohit Sharma as captain of India. He led the team in 12 matches, winning seven and losing three. This made him the 25th captain of India in ODI history.
“Indeed, I didn’t play much cricket during the last two years of my career—I was mostly focused on playing IPL to IPL and didn’t play much international cricket,” the commanding opener stated. He discussed his mindset before disclosing his historic decision. “I thought, ‘You lose the touch too because I’m not playing as much cricket as I used to, I’ve played enough and I should take a rest,” the 38-year-old said. In addition, Shikhar Dhawan stated he realized that training for the IPL for two to three months would not be sufficient to put him in the running for a national call-up. Dhawan captained the Punjab Kings in a few games last year.
Dhawan Satisfied with Career
Shikhar Dhawan reaffirmed that he was happy with how his adventure concluded. Dhawan had an amazing average of 65.15, the greatest of any Indian batsman in ICC limited-overs events. “We would have been thrilled to win the World Cup,” said the Indian former opener, who participated in the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2019. He was also a part of India’s 2013 Champions Trophy triumphant team. The former opener for India, Shikhar Dhawan, and India captain Rohit Sharma have a combined total of 5,193 runs at a pace of 45.15 in 117 matches, with 18 hundred and 15 half-centuries.
This places Dhawan sixth on the list of careers’ greatest partnership runs for any wicket. Shikhar Dhawan expressed his happiness with Rohit’s career taking off, highlighting the best part of it as being his captaincy of India’s T20 World Cup success. “He’s a fantastic captain, and I’m thrilled that he guided the team and brought home the World Cup for our country. We had been anticipating that World Cup for a very long time. We came very close to winning the ODI World Cup as well, and we’ve now done it in the Twenty20 Internationals,” the 38-year-old stated.
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