Shikhar Dhawan Career Timeline: Celebrating The Gabbar Era (2010-2022)

Shikhar Dhawan, a name that took Indian Cricket to new heights, starting as a rookie in 2004 in the under-19 World Cup to donning the Blue jersey of the senior Men's team in 2010.

Let's have a look at Achievements made by Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan In a Recap

Shikhar Dhawan: The Rookie (2004-2009)

Dhawan shot to fame after his heroics in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup earning the Player of the Series award in that tournament scoring 505 runs

After his heroics considerations were made to include him in the squad, but the Indian team at that time had the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir, which proved to be a stiff competition.

Dhawan was churning out truckloads of runs in the Ranji season which finally earned him a debut cap.

2010: A Forgettable Debut

Dhawan made his India bow against Australia, but it was not a great first impression for him as he was dismissed for a golden duck. He struggled in that series and wasn't able to achieve big. He was in the mix but had no performances to make his case stronger.

2013: Gabbar Hits Purple Patch

Dhawan got a new lease of life, at the expense of Virender Sehwag. Dhawan was handed a test match debut at Mohali against the touring Australians, he made Australia toil hard in that game with a scintillating knock on his test match debut becoming the third-fastest Indian to score a test ton in just 85 balls. Dhawan ended with 187 in his first innings, he got injured in the second innings and couldn't bat.

Dhawan then went into the champions trophy as an opener alongside new opening partner Rohit Sharma, who himself became a big name as an opener later on. Gabbar in his first ICC outing for India scored a brilliant ton against South Africa, helping India to a win by 31 runs. He continued his merry ways in the tournament with another ton against West Indies and then a solid fifty against Sri Lanka in the semis, this ensured Dhawan was awarded a golden bat for his performance.

2015: Man Of ICC Tournaments

Another World Cup and once against the West Delhi lad ensured India got to perfect starts in the tournament, he started off with a fluent knock of 72 against Arch-rivals Pakistan, then capped it off by scoring a big ton against the mighty South Africans a knock of 137 that helped India beat South Africa for the first time in the ODI World Cup. He ended up with 412 runs in 7 games.

2017: In the form of his life

Dhawan started 2017 with a bang, smashing a neat half-century against Pakistan, he followed it up with a ton against Sri Lanka a knock of 125. Shikhar had another good champions trophy earning him the golden bat once again. Dhawan bettered his year by scoring his highest test score of 190 against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.

2018: Decline In Test Cricket

Dhawan had a torrid time on the tour of England as his chinks were found out on that tour, he consistently poked the ball which is outside the off stump and ended up edging the ball to the slip cordon. This led to his ouster from the test side.

2019: Short and impactful World Cup campaign

The year of the ODI World Cup in 2019, the eyes were once again on Dhawan to provide explosive starts along with Rohit Sharma. He started with a blob against South Africa, come the game against Australia Dhawan provided the explosive start that was needed after India was asked to bat first on a good oval pitch, Dhawan capped the game off by scoring a good knock of 115, despite carrying an injury on his left thumb, which eventually cut short his ODI World Cup.

2020-22: The Beginning of The End

The last few years of Gabbar were tough ones, the performances dried up form dipped considerably, though he led the side on a few tours where Rohit wasn't there as captain. With the emergence of young guns like Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, he was slowly phased out of the side, Dhawan played his last International game for India in December 2022 an ODI against Bangladesh at Mirpur.