Shikhar Dhawan: From dawn and still on

Out comes the helmet followed by a Dabangg-like twirl of the moustache. Up goes the bat towards a roaring PCA Stadium in Mohali. A shrewd smile of satisfaction and a broadened shoulders’ salute.

*Just 85 balls.

**Its a Test match.

***Its a debut Test match.

Meet the newest pinnacle of Indian Cricket, err Gabbar Singh err Chulbul Pandey err Shikhar Dhawan or fondly & more aptly, DA.ONE.

Gundappa Vishwanath & Lala Amarnath must not have been the happiest of men on 16th March 2013. Scoring 187 off 174 meant Vishwanath’s long sustained record of the highest score by an Indian on debut (137 against Oz in Kanpur, 1969) & the record of most runs on debut by Amarnath (156 in two innings combined against Eng in Mumbai, 1933) were as good as broken. Power of the moustache, aye.

Flashback 2004.

He didn’t have this big a moustache back then. In fact he didn’t have one at all. Ear rings were missing. Hair weren’t. He was a bit more fairer and cuter if you ask fan girls. The man wore the blue jersey for the first time ever on February 16, 2004. The boy from the Capital was asked to open for the Indian U19 team under the captaincy of a start stop Ambati Rayudu who had a bad company in between only to return to the fold later.

He was just an ambitious kid and probably he wouldn’t have known that he would become the leading run scorer of the tournament guiding India to the semifinals and that he would repeat the feat again -this time in a perfect manner- to clinch the title for the senior team after nearly a decade. Nevertheless, that was some innings to start your national career.

An unbeaten 155 with three fifty plus partnerships with the likes of Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina. His bat led team India to the semifinals with three centuries and a fifty only to lose against the eventual champions and neighbours and foes Pakistan. However, the best thing about the tournament was when he showed he-apart from the free strokeplay- has the capability of holding the innings thus bailing out the sinking ship against Sri lankans.

It was the same year when he was given Border Gavaskar scholarship with Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao where they were drilled by Allan Border and Bennett King at the Australian cricket academy.

Fresh from the success of the 2004 U-19 WC, here he is, giving some intense insights of his game. “I don’t believe in the concept of bowlers being difficult. I feel one needs to play the ball & not the bowler, as a great ball from an average bowler can get the better of you.” Boy knows to speak.

Dhawan had his own heroes.

“Andy Flower for grit, Brian Lara for flair and Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist for sheer aggression.”

Following upon the fairy tale he was included in the probables to play for the Delhi Ranji team for the 2004-05 season and got his place in the team to open with Akash Chopra with whom he loves to discuss his batting. He himself had six chances to open along with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Chopra in which he collected 461 runs @ 41.90, which considered a first season, is not bad at all.

Later as the season progressed, he was called upon to represent the India seniors in the NKP Salve Challenger trophy under the captaincy of none other than, Sourav Ganguly. He was also included in various teams such as Board President XI and India A and played against the touring sides like Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc.

Thus the rookie from Delhi followed up his first full domestic season with him being included in squads facing touring sides and performing well. With all his supporting performances, he became a near permanent member of India A side at the end of 2005. Not to forget the not so successful not so bad Ranji to follow. Averaging 41.14 with the bat, he showed glimpses of List A form even.