Shikhar’s Dhawan was one of the best white-ball openers of the 2010s. The Delhi cricketer played some memorable red-ball innings as well, his debut Test ton against Australia in Mohali being a case in point. TOI takes a look at Dhawan’s top-five innings across formats in international cricket.
ODIs
114 off 94 balls against SA (Cardiff, Champions Trophy 2013): Batting first, Dhawan played an innings to remember against a quality attack led by Morne Morkel. His 127-run opening partnership with Rohit Sharma was one of the first signs that the duo would dominate white-ball cricket for the rest of the decade. India won the match by 26 runs.
137 off 144 balls against SA (MCG, ODI World Cup, 2015): An innings of absolute class and quality despite losing Rohit early. Dhawan attacked the Dale Steyn-led attack and took the Proteas apart, setting up India’s 130-run victory against a formidable outfit.
117 off 109 against Australia (The Oval, 2019 ODI World Cup): It was in this match that Dhawan got injured and was consequently ruled out of the World Cup. But before that, the left-hander brought all his experience into play and scored a fluent century against the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. India won the game by 36 runs
TESTS
187 off 174 balls against Australia (Mohali, 2013): Virender Sehwag was on his way out and India were looking for a dasher up top. Dhawan was tried in the third Test after Viru failed in the first two and the southpaw was a super-hit straight away. He smashed the fastest debut century, taking apart a Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon-led attack and his 289-run opening stand with M Vijay was one of the highlights of the Test which India won by 6 wickets.
190 off 168 balls against Sri Lanka (Galle, 2017): Dhawan’s beauty was he could score daddy hundreds, that too at well above run a ball. He plundered the Lankans on Day 1 and his 243-run stand with Cheteshwar Pujara was quite a treat for the fans. Needless to say, India won easily, by 304 runs.
