There was always an ease to the manner in which Shikhar Dhawan conducted himself, be it on or off the field. If fluidity in batting defined his forays to the crease, the southpaw always exuded a friendly vibe in the public space. Easy to laugh and equally quick to do a bhangra with his team-mates in the dressing room, effervescence was Dhawan’s essential trait.
At 38, the former India opener, and one, who sporadically captained the Men in Blue in limited-overs cricket, bowed out of the willow game. Through a video he posted on his social media handles, Dhawan announced his retirement on Saturday (August 24, 2024) morning. Even in this, he was media-friendly, giving ample time for correspondents to chew on their thoughts and give expression to their reactions.
Strangely, Dhawan, the lord of runs in the shorter formats, suffered a dull start with a duck on his ODI debut against the Aussies at Visakhapatnam in 2010. Before that game, skipper M.S. Dhoni spoke about how he and Dhawan had come through the rungs and that the opener deserved his opportunities. In Tests, however, Dhawan reversed the trend, hammering a 187 against the Aussies during his debut at Mohali in 2013.
The post-hundred celebrations were effusive, bat raised, slapping his thighs like a kabaddi player or wrestler, and an instant connect was established with the public. But as years raced by, it was evident that Dhawan was cut for the hustle of ODIs and T20Is and the numbers make it explicit: 2315 Test runs at an average of 40.61, an ODI yield of 6793 at 44.11, a T20I kitty of 1759 at 27.92 and 6769 in the Indian Premier League.
The boisterous man from Delhi seemed an organic replacement for Sourav Ganguly atop the batting tree in limited-overs cricket. Both were left-handed batters even if on an aesthetic scale, Ganguly remained the king. Dhawan was always busy, cutting, hoisting, shuffling forward to the spinners and whipping pacers. He was remarkably effective and forged good opening alliances with Murali Vijay in Tests and Rohit Sharma in ODIs.
And whenever the other seniors took a break for some random limited-overs tours, Dhawan led the squad and enjoyed the responsibility. The post-match dressing room videos would often be about him egging his mates to dance with abandon, and in this he was Yuvraj Singh’s natural successor.
Often an insight into a player is revealed when he or she is going through a bad patch. During the 2014 tour of England, one in which James Anderson was having Virat Kohli for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Dhawan too went through a sombre phase, and he was dropped towards the tail-end of the Test series. His Delhi senior Gautam Gambhir was preferred, but at nets, Dhawan was his usual self.
Vijay was training and Dhawan would yell: “Macha I will bowl.” He ambled in, turned his arm over and helped his fellow opener finesse his shots. This surely was a man at peace with himself. Dhawan last played for India in 2022, and the team may have moved on, but captain Rohit will surely feel his friend Gabbar’s absence and so will many in the change-room.
