Shikhar Dhawan called time on his 14-year international career by announcing his retirement via social media on Saturday morning. Dhawan last appeared in a competitive match in April, when he led the Punjab Kings in IPL 2024. He retires with 24 international hundreds (17 in ODIs and seven in Tests) from 269 matches.
“It is important to turn a page so that I can move forward in life and that is why I am announcing that I have stopped playing international and domestic cricket,” he said in a video he posted on social media. “I walk with peace in my heart that I played for a long time in India. I have told myself that he will not play for India anymore, but I feel happy that he played for the country.”
Dhawan retires as the leading modern ODI batsman, one of only eight batsmen in the history of the format with more than 5000 runs at an average of 40-plus and a strike rate of 90-plus (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are the others India in the list). He has not played for India since the ODI series against Bangladesh in December 2022.
While playing his first-ever formats, Dhawan’s ODI totals surpassed his records in the other two formats, although it was in Tests that he made his debut with an 85-ball century against Australia at Mohali, the fastest of all. with the first Test. He went on to make 187 in a match-winning effort.
Dhawan’s career reached high notes in 2013, when he scored 1162 runs in ODIs at an average of 50.52 and a strike rate of 97.89. The icing on the cake was his career-high 363 runs in five innings, including two centuries, in India’s Champions Trophy triumph, which was his first series back in ODI colors after a forgettable five-match spell in 2010-11.
That tournament was the start of a brilliant partnership at the top of the order with Rohit. In terms of run aggregates, the duo is the fourth highest in ODIs, and the second highest run aggregate for India behind Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
Dhawan’s good run carried over into the Champions Trophy 2013 as he established himself as a key member of the ODI team for the next few years. He was the highest run-scorer in the following several multi-team (five and more teams) ODI tournaments for India: Asia Cup 2014, World Cup 2015, Champions Trophy 2017 and Asia Cup 2018.
In 2019, Dhawan’s ODI career hit its first major hurdle after he pulled out with a thumb injury midway through the World Cup in England, shortly after scoring a century against Australia at The Oval. Dhawan’s contributions were rewarded by being short-handed captain in the final leg of his international career, where he will lead India’s second-string side in the absence of regular players.
Dhawan has represented Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in his IPL career, where he is currently second in runs after Kohli. His 6769 runs came in 221 innings with a strike rate of 127.14.
As a domestic cricketer, Dhawan’s early years coincided with Delhi’s Ranji Trophy success, as he was part of the team that won the title in 2007-08, when they beat Uttar Pradesh. He was also India’s top scorer in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup.
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