Shikhar Dhawan has announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket with immediate effect. The left-hander took to social media to call time on his career spanning over 13 years for India, in which he played 34 Tests, 167 ODIs and 68 T20Is scoring 2315, 6793 and 1579 runs respectively in the three formats.
“It’s important to turn the page to move forward in a story, and in life. That’s why, I am announcing my retirement from international and domestic cricket,” Dhawan said in his retirement video. “I’ve told myself to not feel sad that you won’t play for India again, but feel happy that you played for the country.”
The 38-year-old played his last game for India, an ODI against Bangladesh at Chattogram, in December 2022 while his last T20I was in Sri Lanka in July 2021. Dhawan had not played a Test for India since 2018. His last competitive appearance was for the Punjab Kings in IPL 2024 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in April following which an injury ended his season prematurely.
Dhawan thanked his family, his fans for showing him love, his childhood coaches along with the various Indian and IPL teams he has played with during his career.
Dhawan shot to fame in the 2004 U-19 World Cup scoring three centuries as he amassed 505 runs. Along with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, he was part of a strong Delhi batting order. He became known for his strong offside game with his elegant cover drives and cuts. He finally made his debut for India in the ODI format in 2010 against Australia but was dismissed for a duck.
However, three years later in March 2013, he was given his Test debut against Australia at Mohali but unlike the ODI debut this was a memorable one. He smashed the fastest Test century on debut, in only 85 deliveries. He kicked on from there in 2013, forging a strong opening partnership with Rohit Sharma playing an instrumental role as India went on to lift the Champions Trophy in England, scoring 363 runs and two hundreds in the process.
Dhawan’s 137 against South Africa at the MCG in the 2015 Cricket World Cup was one of his most memorable knocks as he took on the likes of Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell and Vernon Philander to the cleaners, and came to be known as the man for the ICC events. Dhawan started the ICC 2019 World Cup in similar fashion, with a hundred against Australia, but a hairline fracture on his thumb ruled him out of the rest of the tournament.
In his 222-game IPL career, Dhawan scored 6,769 runs and is a one-time championship winner with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, in 2016, forming a pivotal partnership with David Warner. The turn of the decade saw international appearances come few and far between, though.
Dhawan also captained India in 15 games (12 ODIs and 3 T20Is), and 33 games in total for two IPL franchises – Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad – across the IPL, and the erstwhile Champions League T20. He had a win-loss record of 8-5 (2 no-results) when he captained India. He led the side to ODI series wins against Sri Lanka in 2021, and West Indies and South Africa in 2022. However in the franchise tournaments, Dhawan struggled with the load of captaining the side, with a win loss record of 13 wins to 20 defeats.
