There are lots of left handers in the history of cricket who had done amazing batting, bowling and fielding. But do you know which one is mentioned in the title?

It’s the Indian opener , Shikhar Dhawan!

<>Shikhar Dhawan is a left handed batsman and an part time right hand off break bowler, who is known basically for his succesful performance in the ICC tournaments , out of which only the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy was won by India but he had several outstanding records to his name.

• Early life-

Shikhar Dhawan was born on 5th December, 1985 in delhi, in a Punjabi family to Sunaina and Mahendra pal Dhawan. He completed his school from St. Mark’s senior secondary public school in meera bagh, delhi. Since from age 12, he was trained in the sonnet club by his coach Tarak sinha, who had trained 12 international cricketers. Dhawan did wicket keeping when he joined the club initially.

•Early domestic and youth career-

Dhawan played in Delhi u-16 in the vijay merchant trophy in 1999/00 and in the next season he had very successful tournament where he scored 755 runs in 9 innings and delhi finished as runner ups.

In ACC u-17 Asia Cup, he averaged 85 in 3 games and in vijay merchant trophy he scored a staggering 282 runs in just 5 innings he played. He also played for india in 2004 u-19 CWC where he scored 505 runs in just 7 matches and this record still stands unbroken.

He made his debut in Ranji trophy for delhi against Andhra and scored 49 in that match. He scored 461 runs in 6 innings and highest of 130 in that 2004 Ranji season. In next season, where he was playing list A matches, he strucked back to back hundreds against Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. He was also selected in the seniors squad of challengers trophy with MSD where he shared a 246 run stand for the first wicket with him and scored a 126(124).

It is true that “not everyone is perfect”. Yes, it stands correct in the case of Dhawan too. If he had good performances he too had the poor forms with the bat too:-

• Inconsistent seasons-

In 2006-07 Ranji season when he was captaining his side he failed to make his mark by scoring only 161 runs in 6 innings with a top score of 46, despite of presence of the famous players like Sehwag, gambhir, and nehra their team failed to perform and ended their season in the quarter finals.

Dhawan lost his place in india A team touring england in 2010-11 because of his poor performance in west Indies .

In 2011-12 Ranji season he finished with 296 runs with an average of 32.88 and their team finished at 6th out of 7 teams in the group stage.

In the three four- day test matches tour of India A , he was struggling with bat and scored only at an average of 7.50 in that series , that’s why he was dropped in the third match and in the two match t20 series there only he managed an average of only 27 and strike rate less than 100.

Later in the two list A matches he managed only 49 runs at the average of 24.50.

• Dhawan’s comeback-

Dhawan learned from his mistakes and came back much stronger. In October 2011, in the Irani Cup final , he was playing for rest of India and against rajasthan he strucked 177 and 155 in the two innings and helped his team to win the match by 404 runs.

In 2012-13 Ranji season, he was in sublime form as he scored an unbeaten 99 for india A , which helped his team to chase 194 for a loss of two wickets against bengal.

In the next game he scored 139- ball 152 against India B , which they won by 4 runs, but in the final against the same team he failed to take his team over the line .

In the following Duleep trophy he was captain of North zone and scored 101 and 50 against the west zone in the quarter finals and 121 and 37 in the semi’s against the central zone.

He scored 461 runs in 2012-13 Ranji season at an average of 51.22 with two hundreds and was the captain of Delhi team in the Challenger trophy 2013 , where he scored 110 against England team touring for one off list A match and chased 295 for a loss of only 4 wickets.

• International career-

Dhawan made his odi debut in the second one day against Australia in vishakapatnam on 20th October 2010, where he scored 0(2).

In June 2011, he made debut in t20i’s against windies at Port of Spain where too he failed to make his mark .

But in the odi series in which the first match of series he was playing his second one day international , he made a 76- ball 51 and helped to chase 215 .

In March 2013 he made his test debut against Australia where he scored a suberb knock of 187(174).

He was picked for india in ICC champions trophy 2013 and played remarkably well and was the leading scorer in the tournament and helped India to win it . He amassed 363 runs at an average of 90.75.

In 2015 CWC in Australia, he scored 412 runs @51.50 with 137 and 100 against South Africa and Ireland. In semi’s he scored a good 45(41) but unfortunately India lost that match.

In 2017 he was in the team for ICC Champions Trophy and in that tournament he was the leading run scorer , by scoring 338 runs @67.60 and was the second player to receive two consecutive golden bats in the history of champions trophy.

In 2018 unimoni Asia Cup he was the leading run scorer and had most runs in t20i’s in a calendar year.

He has also played some superb test knocks like 173(195) against Bangladesh in late 2015 and 190(168), his career best against Sri Lanka and 119(123 against the same team in 2017. And on june 14, he became the only player and the first to score a hundred before lunch in a test match against Afghanistan.

In 2019 CWC he scored a 117 against Australia but was ruled out of the tournament due to injury.

•IPL career-

He was picked by DD in the first season of IPL and scored 4 50’s then. He then was exchanged with nehra and played for MI in 2009&10 seasons and then he went to play for Deccan chargers.

Then he was brought to SRH in 2013 , where he played 63(45) against CSK at his comeback. And in 2015 season he scored 259 in just 14 matches.

In 2016, he took his team to final with Warner and made it champions for the first time as he amassed 501 runs in 17 matches @38.33.

In 2018, where his team was runner ups , he got 497 runs in 14 matches @36.84.

In 2019 he returned to Delhi capitals and there too he took his team to playoffs and scored 500+ runs in the season.

In 2013 Champions premier league T20 where all the best teams of world from their own t20 leauges compete, he was the captain of the SRH.

•Personal life-

Dhawan married to australian based amateur boxer Ayesha Mukherjee, 12 years older than him who was a mother of two . She was introduced to Dhawan by Harbhajan Singh in 2012.

They married the same year and in 2014 they had a son named Zoravar. Dhawan has also adopted Ayesha ‘s daughters aliyah and rhea. Dhawan in his home is called Babbu and gabbar by his teammates, due to his big moustaches.

Thankyou 🙏🙏🙏