Shikhar Dhawan's rise to prominence

The international arena is a cruel one, and you do not get many chances to prove your ability even if  you have a multitude of tons in the domestic circuit. The international game is about holding your temperament, the hunger for big runs and the intolerance towards failure. In the past few years, we have seen a number of Indian openers going through the revolving doors. Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Utthappa are a few names that come to mind and even middle order batsmen have tried to take advantage of the opportunity but have failed to do so. In the midst of all this, one player has finally grabbed his opportunity.

Shikhar Dhawan’s career seems to have blossomed finally as he scored his second consecutive century in the Champions Trophy. The left-hander from Delhi has been on the margins of the Indian cricket team for a long time inspite of an unfailing consistent record in the Ranji Trophy. This was perhaps because of the quality India had in their opening-slot with Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar sharing the responsibility over the last few years. Shikhar Dhawan made his ODI debut for India back in 2010 against Australia at Vishakhapatnam. As has been the case with many careers of great longevity, Dhawan’s journey started with a fateful first ball duck as Clint Mckay shattered his stumps.

But Shikhar battled hard for his second coming.

Dhawan was called upon to open the innings for India after a series of failures for Sehwag and Gambhir against a potent Australia bowling line-up. He looked an inspired man on that day as every ball seemed to hit the middle of his bat. He made it seem like he had always belonged to the stage, oozing confidence as he drove, cut and pulled on way to his Test debut ton that shattered the record for the fastest Test century by a debutant. He continued to bat for the entire day, finishing with 187 runs and a look of satisfaction on his face. This was a player who had virtually waited nine years for his moment and now that it had come, he wanted to enjoy it. Dhawan’s innings grabbed eyeballs everywhere, and he was hailed for his abilities by cricketing pundits all around the world.