Farewell Shikhar Dhawan: Indian cricket’s ‘Gabbar’ was a smiling altruist

PTI, Aug 24, 2024, 12:41 PM IST

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A bit of selfishness, they say, is a necessary trait in the make-up of elite athletes. But Shikhar Dhawan remained an altruist through a career punctuated with innumerable bursts of brilliance, an outlook that was at times annoyingly positive, and without hyperbolic excesses.

Out of the India setup for a while, the pragmatic 38-year-old, who in his pomp left the best of bowlers helpless and in awe, reached an agreement with his fate and retired from all forms of cricket.

When the great Sachin Tendulkar presented Dhawan with the Test cap, he told him, “We know about your guts. Show us some.”

Well, he showed guts, and more.

Tenacity, resourcefulness, selflessness and the willingness to sacrifice for the team’s sake defined his international career, his time in the Indian Premier

League and his outings on the domestic circuit. He did so while always sporting a smile.

Scroll through his social media pages and one would struggle to find a cryptic tweet after being ignored by India selectors. No sly digs, no sarcasm-laden posts, no frills — that’s not how he operated even while he was facing upheavals in his personal life. All along, he carried himself with grace and dignity as his fans stood by him.

He would wish his fellow colleagues luck and pray for the team’s success. It didn’t matter whether he was part of the team or not.

For reference, one can go back to the heartfelt note he penned after the Indian team was announced for last year’s ODI World Cup at home. He did the same before this year’s T20 World Cup in the Americas where India triumphed to end an 11-year ICC tournament title drought.

An excerpt from his retirement aptly defines his character.

“… And that’s why I tell myself, don’t be sad that you won’t play for India again but be happy that you played for your country. And that’s the biggest thing for me, that I played,” he said in his concluding remarks in the social media post on Saturday morning.

Incidentally, the last time India won an ICC title — the 2013 Champions Trophy in England — Dhawan played a vital role and won the player of the tournament award for his exploits at the top of the order in seaming conditions.

Indian cricket’s ‘Gabbar’, who made the thigh-clap celebration his trademark, didn’t enjoy a memorable beginning to his international career, getting dismissed for a two-ball duck against Australia in an ODI in Visakhapatnam.

However, after the initial struggles in top-flight, Dhawan returned to the Indian team in 2013 and cemented his place across all three formats with some scintillating performances.

The highlight of his career was the brilliant 185 he scored against Australia on Test debut in Mohali, having raced to his century in just 85 balls with a flurry of boundaries.

Dhawan, however, could have been out even before he had faced a ball in his Test debut. The first delivery of the India innings slipped out of Mitchell Starc’s hand and fell on the stumps with the debutant out of his ground at the non-striker’s end.

The Australians did not appeal, and the flamboyant Dhawan took full advantage of that by setting the record for the fastest century by a Test debutant.

While his Test debut was memorable, Dhawan found his calling in One-Day Internationals, amassing 6793 runs at an average of 44.11, including 17 hundreds and 39 fifties.

He averaged 40.61 for his 2315 Test runs, which featured seven centuries. The Indian cricket establishment, and the fans, expected more from his willow, especially after that blazing start to his Test career, but Dhawan would never complain with whatever he has got during a career that spanned almost 14 years.

When he looks back at his career, he would certainly cherish the memories, one of them being the brilliant 137 against a South African pace attack comprising

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the 2015 ODI World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

His 109-ball 117 in the 2019 World Cup against Australia at the Oval was perhaps his last significant outing in the India colours.

Along with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, he formed an unmatched triumvirate in the international white-ball formats from 2013 to 2019, though it’s another matter that he is not going out after having built a towering legacy, something the other two would have when they bid adieu to the game.

All three peaked at the same time, and Dhawan was the most less talked-about one. One of the reasons for that could be the fact that all his good knocks would be interspersed with prolonged lean patches.

Dhawan was also a standout performer in domestic cricket, becoming a star in the 2004 U-19 World Cup. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that he truly captured the attention of the Indian public.