Shikhar Dhawan - the belligerent southpaw

Shikhar Dhawan of India celebrates his teams win over England during the ICC Champions Trophy Final between England and India at Edgbaston on June 23, 2013 in Birmingham

What do I call him? Classy? Elegant? Or simply a complete cricketer? Few months back, I was on the notion that there can never be a suitable replacement for the exuberant Virender Sehwag. I am pleasantly humbled today as I behold my new idol whose charm with the bat is never ending.

Some would say that it is too early to classify him as a good player. But as the saying goes, I believe ‘form is temporary, but class is permanent’, and he has displayed ample class that has been etched upon every innings of his very short international career. His journey to the top wasn’t out of a fairytale. It was fraught with numerous struggles of the heart and the body. It would be immensely surprising to know that Dhawan wanted to quit cricket at one point of his life.

“After being repeatedly ignored for Team India, southpaw was dejected!” Tarak Sinha, Dhawan’s coach

Cricket could do that to people! Like many fans choose to believe, the journey to reach cricket’s upper echelons is not a bed of roses, rather it is the path of thorns, of pain and sacrifices that lead them to ultimate glory. They say nothing in life is easy, and one could not choose a better example to portray this thought for, if a player of Dhawan’s calibre could imagine leaving cricket, then it puts the game into its gravest perspective.

He sat by watching as players younger than him were making a mark on the international scene, while he was left to garnish the domestic circuit. He was prolific but not exceptional- he admits and has tuned his batting with every passing year to obtain the final ticket to stardom.

Known fondly for his effervescent style and attitude, Dhawan was sidelined for the majority of his career. It must have been hurtful, for the wait seemed eternal.

To begin with, Shikhar Dhawan is a player with natural grace and stroke making abilities and was renowned for the same in the domestic circuit. He played for Delhi which has churned out good cricketers of late like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli to name a few.

His Test debut was quite interesting to note. He was a replacement for his Delhi teammate Virender Sehwag as he paired up with another rookie in Murali Vijay. There weren’t quite a lot of expectations and people were basically furious for leaving out a deserving Wasim Jaffer. His praise was sung all over the cricketing arena, and people from all quarters wanted Jaffer in the team. Had Dhawan failed in that Test, the selectors would have had a tough time explaining his selection. But that is where Dhawan redefined his career along with the traditional belief that “India cannot survive without the heroics of Sehwag!”