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Shikhar Dhawan, who made his debut for Delhi in the 2004-05 Ranji Trophy, bid farewell to international and domestic cricket.

In 269 games for India, the left-handed batsman managed to score 24 international centuries in the format.
Shikhar Dhawan has retired from international cricket after representing India for 14 years, the cricketer announced this on his social media on Saturday morning. The player last played a competitive match in IPL April 2024 where he captained Punjab Kings. He played 269 international matches, scoring 24 international centuries (including 17 in ODIs and 7 in Tests).

‘It is time to move on and hence I have decided to retire from international and domestic cricket,’ Dhawan posted a video on his official social media platform this week. But, I am happy that I played for India; We tell ourselves ‘Don’t be sad that you are not playing for India anymore, but be happy playing for India’.

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Shikhar Dhawan retires as modern ODI great; He is one of only eight batsmen to have scored 5,000 runs at a 40+ average and 90+ strike rate in the format now joined only by India’s Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. This was his last appearance for India in the ODI series against Bangladesh in early December 2022.
Shikhar Dhawan: Emotional intelligence can be taken as ‘being calm and empathetic enables me to be a good leader’.

Overall, in ODIs, his numbers were far ahead of the other two formats, though he was glorious in Tests, especially when he scored the fastest Test century on debut with an 85-ball blitz against Australia in Mohali. He later hit 187 in a match-winning effort.
Shikhar Dhawan never looked back after that year, especially in 2013, when he scored a surprisingly healthy fifty at an average of 1162 in One Day Internationals. 52 with an SR of 97. 89. The final proof was his 363 runs in five innings with 2 centuries during India’s Champions Trophy-winning campaign, which marked his return to the ODI side after five disappointing outings in 2010–11.

That tournament was the start of a great combination with Rohit at the top. For the combined run total, the duo ranks as the fourth best Indian pair by far, apart from Tendulkar and Ganguly. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan take India home easily with ten wickets in hand, England vs India, 1st ODI, The Oval, London, July 12, 2022 The brilliant partnership between the two carried over from the 2013 Champions Trophy and hit the roof for India the following year. In the ODI team. He has been the top scorer for India in each of the following multi-team (five plus teams) ODI tournaments: Asia Cup – 2014, World Cup – 2015, Champions Trophy – 2017, Asia Cup – 2018. In 2019,

Dhawan’s ODI career was halted with the first significant setback – a thumb injury during the World Cup in England; After scoring a century against Australia at the Oval, he was beyond expectations. Dhawan’s hard work paid off with brief captaincy spells in his final years of Indian cricket when he led India’s second teams in the absence of the formidable Nexons. In the IPL, Dhawan played for Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings; He remains the second highest run scorer in the league, trailing only Kohli. He scored a total of 6769 runs in 221 innings with a strike rate of 127. 14. As a domestic cricketer(Shikhar Dhawan)

There is always that tradition to ‘flip the page’ to commence anew, whether in a book or in life and that is why, let me announce that I am retiring from international and domestic cricket. ‘Self,’ I have said to myself, ‘Do not grieve that he will not play for India again, be glad that he played for the country.’

The 38-year-old retired from international cricket in December 2022, his last match being an ODI, against Bangladesh at Chattogram; his last T20I was in Sri Lanka in July 2021. Dhawan had not been part of the Indian Test side since 2018. His final competitive match was playing for the PBKS in IPL 2024 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in April 2024 when he suffered an injury which cut short his season.

Dhawan took to the social media platform and expressed his gratitude to his family, his fans for showering him love, his early coaches and all the Indian and IPL teams he has been associated with.

In a video message, Dhawan said, “I had only one goal, to play for the country. That goal has been met. Thank you very much. First my family, my childhood coaches Tarak Singh and Madan Sharma. I learned cricket in their training. Then I would like to thank my whole team with whom I have played, and have a family. Got everyone’s love and support. I am doing the same as turning the pages while reading a story book. Retiring from international and domestic cricket.”

Dhawan thanked the Board of Cricket in India and the Delhi Cricket Association. He also thanked the supporters. He said, “I am blessed to play for the country. BCCI, DDCA gave me that opportunity. I also got the love of the fans. I want to tell myself that there is no need to feel sad that I can’t play for the country, instead I should be happy thinking that I got to play for the country.”

Shikhar Dhawan

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