Shikhar Dhawan announces retirement from international and domestic cricket

Shikhar Dhawan, one of India’s top white-ball cricketers, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 38. While he will no longer represent India, Dhawan hinted that he plans to continue playing in leagues like the IPL. His last appearance for India was in an ODI against Bangladesh in December 2022. Over his career, Dhawan scored 10,867 runs in 269 matches, including 24 centuries and 44 fifties, making him a key player for India over the past decade.

Dhawan mentioned that retiring wasn’t a difficult decision for him, expressing that he feels more gratitude than sadness. He’s ready to step away from international and domestic cricket to rest.

Dhawan first made a name for himself in the 2004 U-19 World Cup by scoring three centuries and 505 runs. He made his India debut in 2010 but struggled initially, only finding his stride in 2013 when he scored the fastest century on debut during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.

One of Dhawan’s career highlights was his Test debut, where he scored 187 runs, which he fondly remembers as a dream come true. His performance in Tests led to his ODI comeback, where he formed a successful opening partnership with Rohit Sharma. In the 2013 Champions Trophy, Dhawan scored back-to-back centuries and was named Player of the Tournament as India clinched the title.

Dhawan became known as India’s go-to player in ICC tournaments, leading the team’s scoring charts in the 2015 World Cup and excelling in the 2017 Champions Trophy. Alongside Rohit, Dhawan formed one of India’s most successful opening pairs in ODIs, second only to Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

However, Dhawan’s career began to decline after the 2019 World Cup, where a fractured thumb ended his tournament. Although he continued to play, his declining strike rate in T20Is and the rise of younger players like Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan saw him gradually phased out of the team. Despite strong performances in the IPL, Dhawan was unable to secure a return to India’s T20I squad.

Dhawan’s Test career, which started with a bang, didn’t live up to its early promise. He scored 2315 runs in 40 matches, with some memorable innings, including a near-century in New Zealand and a big hundred in Sri Lanka. But after a poor tour of England in 2018, Dhawan was dropped from the Test team and never returned.

In 2023, Dhawan expressed surprise at not being selected for India’s Asian Games squad, but he also hinted that he knew his time with the national team was coming to an end.