Top 5 innings by Shikhar Dhawan
Over the past decade and a bit more, India have had some terrific opening batsmen and their involvement in Indian victories across formats, are nothing short of significant.
Sachin-Ganguly, followed by Sachin-Sehwag, Sehwag-Gambhir and so on have all played important partnerships for the team in the opening slot. The latest in this long list is Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan who have been doing exceptionally great jobs for the past many years.
While the archives may dish out several memorable pieces done on Rohit Sharma, it doesn't take away anything from his partner Dhawan, who is equally skilled if not more. In fact, it has been a really long time Since India previously boasted of someone like Australia's Adam Gilchrist or Matthew Hayden, someone who is a naturally attacking left-handed opener. Dhawan fulfils the role for the Men in Blue, these days.
Shikhar Dhawan, with his side-on batting stance and nearly non-existent time delay in trigger movement, forms an impenetrable top-order with Rohit and skipper Virat Kohli. And today, the man fondly known as "Gabbar" celebrates the occasion of his 33rd birthday.
Whilst wishing him a very happy day, here we also bring you the best of all innings played by Shikhar Dhawan till date:
#1 187(174) vs Australia, March 15 and 16, 2013.
Occasion: India's 1st innings, 3rd Test, Australia's tour of India at Chandigarh, March 14-18, 2013.
Dhawan's introduction to the all-whites format began with a bang. The opener blasted his way to 187 runs of 174 balls in his maiden innings.
Batting first, Australia had made 408 thanks to Mitchell Stark (99), Steven Smith (92*), Ed Cowan (86) and David Warner (71). India started batting in reply on Day 2 afternoon, with Dhawan and Murali Vijay (153 off 317) at the crease.
The left-hander's cricketing experience at the highest stage was limited to ODIs and T20Is until then, and that was seen from the way he batted - as he looked to hit every ball. The minimal number of errors worked in his favour too, and as a result, he raced off to a record fastest hundred on Test debut by any batsman (85 balls) - a record still unbeaten.
India did not lose a wicket for the whole day, and the next day too, the Delhi batsman continued from where he had left off. By the time he was caught by Ed Cowan off a Nathan Lyon delivery, he had amassed 187 runs off 174 balls, including 33 fours and 2 sixes. It is still one of the highest scores achieved on debut by a batsman.
India ended their first innings at 499 runs and bowled Australia out for 223, after which they chased the resulting target of 132 runs with great ease. Dhawan did not bat in the second innings, but with the one innings he played, he had garnered enough damage to blow away the Aussies from the contest.
India eventually won the series as well, whitewashing the Aussies 4-0.