Rohit Sharma pens heartwarming note for ‘ultimate jatt’ Dhawan
The day after Shikhar Dhawan brought curtains down on his cricket career, Rohit Sharma shared a message for his long-time opening partner, saying “You always made my job easier from the other end.”
Dhawan announced his retirement on Saturday in a video post on social media after an international career of over a decade, which saw him forge one of India’s most successful opening partnerships with Rohit.
“From sharing rooms to sharing lifetime memories on the field. You always made my job easier from the other end. THE ULTIMATE JATT @SDhawan25,” Rohit wrote in his social media post for Dhawan.
The left-handed batsman played 34 Tests, scoring 2315 runs at an average of 40.61, including 7 hundreds and 5 fifties. In white-ball internationals, Dhawan played 167 ODIs and 68 T20Is, scoring 6793 and 1759 runs respectively. He averaged 44.11 in ODIs and 27.92 in T20Is.
Dhawan’s tally of centuries in limited-overs internationals totalled 17 — all in ODIs. Besides that, he scored 39 ODI fifties and 5 in T20Is.
The southpaw, who made his debut in an ODI in October 2010 and always rose to the occasion for India in ICC tournaments, enjoyed a six-year period in his career where he, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma together scored a century of centuries.
The trio smashed 102 centuries together across formats between June 1, 2013, and June 30, 2019.
BATSMAN | INNINGS | 100s | TESTS | ODIs | T20Is |
Virat Kohli | 274 | 49 | 21 | 28 | 0 |
Rohit Sharma | 228 | 30 | 3 | 23 | 4 |
Shikhar Dhawan | 29 | 23 | 6 | 17 | 0 |
In his video message to announce the decision to bid cricket adieu, Dhawan said: “It’s important to turn the page to move forward in life and that’s why I am announcing my retirement from international and domestic cricket. As I bid goodbye to my cricket journey, I have peace in my heart that I played for so long.”
“I am standing at a point in my life where when I look back, I see only memories; and when I look ahead, I see a new world. I had just one goal in life, to play for India, and I made it happen,” he added.
(Stats Courtesy: Rajesh Kumar)