NEW DELHI: Former India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who retired from international and domestic cricket in August, shared that a lack of motivation to continue playing at the domestic level was a key factor in his decision.
The 38-year-old Dhawan played 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is for India. He mentioned that after years of competing at the top level, his desire to endure the grind of domestic cricket faded.
"I didn't want to play domestic cricket, which I started playing at the age of 18 or 19. I didn’t have that inspiration from inside to play that kind of cricket anymore," Dhawan told PTI in an interview during the Legends League Cricket event.
Discussing his final years, Dhawan explained, "The last two years of my cricketing career, I wasn’t playing much international cricket and was going from IPL to IPL. I thought, 'Alright, I’ve played enough,' and realised that just training two or three months for the IPL wasn’t enough for me to stay in contention for a national call-up."
Dhawan played his last international match in December 2022, and he felt it was the right time to retire. "I wasn't playing much cricket overall, and that leads to losing touch as well. That’s when I decided it was time to step away."
Despite not clinching a World Cup during his career, Dhawan was satisfied with his career. "I was very happy and satisfied with whatever I achieved in my career, and very, very grateful for everything. Of course, we would have loved to win the World Cup, but I’m proud of what we did as a team."
Reflecting on his relationship with his longtime opening partner and current India captain Rohit Sharma, Dhawan shared his pride in Rohit’s journey. "He’s a great captain. I’m so happy that he led the team to the T20 World Cup win. We were waiting for that for a long time," Dhawan said.
