Former India opener Shikhar Dhawan said on Wednesday that he decided to quit from the game last month because he had lost the “inspiration” to pursue a spot in the national team through domestic cricket.
The 38-year-old Dhawan, who represented India in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is between 2013 and 2022, announced his retirement from both local and international cricket late in August.
In a statement to PTI on the fringes of the Legends League Cricket, an event for retired cricket players that he joined up for, Dhawan said, “I didn’t want to play domestic cricket, which I started playing at the age of 18 or 19. I didn’t have that inspiration from inside to play that (form of) cricket.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Dhawan replaced Rohit Sharma in an ODI against Sri Lanka in June 2021, he became India’s 25th captain of the format. He went on to captain the team in 12 matches, winning seven and losing three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Dhawan had to give way to Shubman Gill, a younger batter, prior to the ODI World Cup last year. In December 2022, he made his final appearance for India abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If I look back, the last two years of my cricketing career, I wasn’t playing much of international cricket and I was playing IPL to IPL, so I wasn’t playing much of cricket (overall),” said the powerful opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After playing in 222 matches and scoring 6769 runs, including two hundreds and 51 half-centuries, he departed the stadium as a true IPL legend.
In addition to being the first batter to hit consecutive hundreds in the competition, he has the most fours in the tournament (768), more than any other batter.
Before making the significant decision, he shared his innermost thoughts. “I thought that, ‘alright, I’ve played enough, and I need to give it a break because I’m not playing that much cricket, so you lose the touch as well,” he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dhawan, who briefly captained Punjab Kings in the previous season, added that he came to the realization that practicing for the IPL for two to three months would not guarantee him a spot on the national team.
“I thought that continuing IPL and just coming up with two, three months of hard work won’t be enough for me to go and play,” he stated.
Dhawan, who finished his voyage with an incredible average of 65.15, the highest of any Indian hitter in ICC limited-overs events, repeated his statement of satisfaction.
“That’s why I decided to just call it off, and to be honest, I was extremely grateful and happy with everything I had accomplished in my career.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Obviously, we would have been thrilled to win the World Cup,” added Dhawan, who competed in the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2019 and captained India to victory in the 2013 Champions Trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former India opener Dhawan, who has amassed 5,193 runs at 45.15 in 117 matches with 18 hundreds and 15 half-centuries, is ranked ninth overall in the record of highest partnership runs in career for any wicket with India skipper Rohit Sharma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dhawan expressed his satisfaction with Rohit’s career reaching new heights, citing his leadership of India’s T20 World Cup victory as the high point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He’s a great captain, and so happy that he led the team and won the World Cup for our nation. We were waiting for that World Cup for a long time. We were very close in (winning) the ODI World Cup as well, and now we achieved that goal in T20Is,” Dhawan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He’s a very experienced captain, and I’m sure all the boys love him as a leader and he has done a phenomenal job for the Indian team,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 38-year-old Dhawan, who represented India in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is between 2013 and 2022, announced his retirement from both local and international cricket late in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":1193115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[10931,237],"yoast_head":"\n