Shikhar Dhawan, the king of global ODI tournaments
Dhawan and Rohit Sharma formed one of the great opening partnerships in ODI cricket, with 18 century partnerships
S Rajesh24-Aug-20241:37
Dhawan’s top 10
187 – Dhawan’s score in his first innings in Test cricket – against Australia in Mohali – the highest by an India debutant in men’s Tests, and the eighth-best overall. His century came off just 85 balls, the fastest on debut.44.11 – His ODI average; in 164 innings, he scored 6793 runs at a strike rate of 91.35. Among the 19 India batters who have scored 3000 or more ODI runs, only four – Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar – have higher averages.
65.15 – His average in ICC 50-over tournaments (ODI World Cups and Champions Trophies); in 20 innings, he scored six centuries and topped 50 ten times. Among the 51 batters who have scored at least 1000 runs in these tournaments, his average is the best, marginally higher than Kohli’s 64.55. Dhawan averaged 53.70 in World Cups (ten innings) and 77.88 in Champions Trophy matches (ten innings).
18 – Century partnerships for the first wicket in ODIs between Rohit and Dhawan, which is the second-best by any opening pair – only Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, with 21, have more. The aggregate of 5148 partnership runs between Rohit and Dhawan is the fourth-highest among all opening pairs, next only to Ganguly-Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist-Matthew Hayden and Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes.140 – Innings taken by Dhawan to reach 6000 ODI runs. Only four batters have taken fewer innings to get to the landmark in men’s ODIs – Hashim Amla, Kohli, Kane Williamson and David Warner.109 – Dhawan’s score in his 100th ODI, against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2018, making him one of only ten batters to score a century in his 100th match in the format.61 – Dhawan’s Test average in Asia. In 24 innings, he scored 1403 runs with six hundreds. In 34 innings outside Asia, he scored only 912 runs at an average of 26.82, with one century.ESPNcricinfo Ltd12 – ODI hundreds for Dhawan outside India, out of his 17 centuries in the format. Unlike in Tests, he had an excellent ODI record outside Asia, averaging 44.03 at a strike rate of 89.34. It was even better in Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa: in 68 innings in these four countries, he averaged 46.68 at a strike rate of 91.73, with eight hundreds.6769 – Runs scored by Dhawan in the IPL, second only to Kohli’s 8004. His 768 fours are the most by any player in the league, well clear of Kohli’s 705.5 – Instances of Dhawan topping 500 runs in an IPL season – in 2012, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Only Kohli, Warner (seven each) and KL Rahul (six) have achieved this feat more often. Dhawan also narrowly missed the landmark in 2018, when he scored 497 runs.