"Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and I scored 100 centuries in 5 years" - Shikhar Dhawan reflects on Indian trio's golden run
Former India opener Shikhar Dhawan termed his international cricket career a beautiful journey and picked his association with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as one of the highlights. The left-hander recalled that the trio combined to score 100 international hundreds during five years.
Having last turned out for India in December 2022, Dhawan announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket on Saturday, August 24. He confirmed the decision through a video message on social media.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, the former India opener reflected on his glorious career and recalled when he, Rohit, and Kohli combined to score 100 tons in five years.
"I clearly remember that Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and I scored 100 centuries in 5 years. Ravi [Shastri] bhai was our coach then. Even NCA has played such a huge role, understood how training and rehab is done whenever I got injured. And a big thank you to the BCCI as well,” Dhawan said in the interview.
The opener was at his peak between 2013 and 2019. During this period, he played 219 matches for India and scored 9263 runs at an average of 40.44, with 24 hundreds. During the same phase, Kohli amassed more than 16000 runs in 276 matches, hitting 54 tons. As for Rohit, he scored 11209 runs in 236 matches, with the aid of 36 hundreds.
"It's not like it is a tough decision for me" - Shikhar Dhawan on retirement
For most sportspersons, retirement is a tough and highly emotional decision. Dhawan, though, asserted that he is not feeling too emotional. He stated that the overwhelming feeling he has is that of gratitude.
"It's not like it is a tough decision for me. I am not even emotional. I don't want to cry or something. But mostly it's gratitude and love. I have spent most of my life playing cricket and I feel I've reached a stage where I want to rest now – from international and domestic," the 38-year-old told Hindustan Times.
Dhawan calls time on his international career with 10867 runs across the three formats. He made a century on Test debut but ended up playing only 34 matches in the format as his technique was exposed in tough conditions. The southpaw, however, excelled in ODIs, scoring 6793 runs in 167 games, averaging 44.11.