Flamboyant Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan is on a record breaking spree ever since he made his debut for Indian cricket team after a long wait. Perhaps, it was a dream debut that any cricketer would like to have.
After Virender Sehwag was dropped from the Indian team a week ago, several eyebrows were raised with most of the people making a hue and cry of it. And today when Murali Vijay walked out to open the Indian innings with debutant Shikhar Dhawan nearly everyone was waiting to see what Dhawan would do with baited breath. The slot that Sehwag left empty was mighty to fill as he has scored a lot of runs and has the records to prove it.
Shikhar Dhawan who is also from Delhi it appears took a note out of Sehwag's book as he blasted a ton to score the fastest century on debut. Dhawan scored his century in 85 balls and had the Mohali crowd on their feet cheering his feat.
Dhawan was born on December 5, 1985 in Delhi and is a left-handed opening batsman who can also be a handy right-arm offbreak bowler. He plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and was selected for the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhawan made his international debut against Australia in 2010 in the Visakhapatnam ODI where many senior players were rested. He opened the innings in the run-chase. He did not score from the first ball and was bowled off the next by Clint McKay.
The Delhi cricketer played for India in the 2004 U-19 Cricket World Cup and was the leading run scorer in the tournament. His 505 runs from seven innings is a record in a single U-19 World Cup. He scored at an average of 84.16 with three centuries and was named the Player of the Tournament.
This dream run continued when Dhawan made his Ranji debut for Delhi in 2004–05, as he ended as the team's leading run-scorer with 461 runs. He consistently performed for his state side. He played a crucial role in Delhi's Ranji title win in 2007–08, scoring 570 runs in eight games.
Dhawan made his T20 debut against West Indies in 2011. He opened along with debutant wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel in which he scored 5 of 11 deliveries faced before being caught behind to keeper Andre Fletcher off Darren Sammy.
In the first season of the IPL, Dhawan played for the Delhi Daredevils and made four half centuries. He was also the third highest scorer of the team. He was traded to the Mumbai Indians in exchange for Ashish Nehra. He has played for the Mumbai Indians in the second and third season of the IPL. For the fourth season he was bought by the Deccan Chargers.
After his dream Test debut, the talented Dhawan has shown selectors that he is a player to reckon with and his record performance is solid proof that is making the maximum of this opportunity he has obtained to represent India in Test cricket.
