Top 5 Shikhar Dhawan moments

Dhawan en route 187 on his Test debut

Shikhar Dhawan burst onto the international arena nine years after his escapades in the Under-19 World Cup in 2004 (505 runs at 84.16). But when the Gabbar of Indian Cricket Team finally arrived, he wasted no balls in cementing his place at the top of India's batting. His flamboyant batting, especially square of the wicket on the off-side, got him lots of runs in the past couple of years.

Dhawan's brief career from 2012 till date has several highlight reels. Here’s a quick flashback of the opener’s best cricketing moments on his 31st birthday.

#1 187(174) vs Australia, Mohali, 2013

Shikhar Dhawan was named as the third opener in 2013 Vs Australia for the Test series at home. Sehwag was dropped after the first two Tests owing to poor form. And thus ended Dhawan’s long wait of donning the national jersey. On the first day of the third Test at Mohali, Sachin Tendulkar presented him with the India Test cap with the following words - "We have known you as a very gutsy player in domestic cricket, now we hope to see you as a gutsy player in international cricket, so show us some guts."

Sachin’s words were turned into action by the debutant who scored a marauding 187 to become the fastest centurion on Test debut. His innings laced with 33 boundaries, helped India win the Test despite losing a complete day's play to rain.

Here’s the moment when Dhawan became the fastest centurion in Test cricket: