'Gabbar', the smiling altruist

Even his nickname "Gabbar" seems an odd one. Dhawan, with a ready smile and easy-going attitude, has always been an endearing personality. He did, however, put the fear of God in bowlers when he got going.

Bengaluru: With tattoos across his well-chiselled frame, Shikhar Dhawan came across more like a mixed martial arts fighter than a cricketer. But the southpaw, who announced his retirement from international cricket on Saturday, betrayed few characteristics of an MMA practitioner. Even his nickname "Gabbar" seems an odd one. Dhawan, with a ready smile and easy-going attitude, has always been an endearing personality, far from the terror-inducing iconic Bollywood villain.

He did, however, put the fear of God in bowlers when he got going and there were many such instances across formats and a career lasting almost 13 years.

For someone who announced his arrival in international cricket with one of the most incandescent Test hundreds on debut, Dhawan eventually found his calling in One-Day Internationals. The southpaw formed one of the finest opening pairs in the format with current skipper Rohit Sharma and laid foundation to many an Indian victory. His 18 ODI century stands with Rohit are only behind the other Indian opening pair Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly who have 21 such partnerships. Dhawan and Rohit's aggregate of 5148 runs is the fourth highest among all opening pairs. The top three in that order are Ganguly-Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist-Matthew Hayden and Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes.

These numbers looked a mirage when his ODI debut in 2010 against Australia in Visakhapatnam ended in a five-ball duck. The second coming ended in disappointment when he could manage only 69 in four ODIs in the West Indies after the 2011 World Cup. The Delhi batter, a player of the tournament in the 2004 U-19 World Cup, had to wait for another couple of years to make an impact, and how! His 187 off just 174 balls in Mohali against Australia reduced his opening partner Murali Vijay's well-crafted 153 to a footnote.

Dhawan's Test career didn't live up to the early promise, though. He went onto play just 33 more Tests over the next 10 years for an aggregate of 2315 runs at an average of 40.61 with seven hundreds and five half-centuries. With close to 6793 runs at a healthy average of 44.11 and a strike rate of 91.35 with 17 tons and 39 fifties in ODIs, he was one of the three pillars of Indian batting along with Rohit and Virat Kohli.

Dhawan last played for India on December 10, 2022 in an ODI against Bangladesh where he managed an 8-ball 3 runs on a day when fellow left-handed opener Ishan Kishan struck 131-ball 210. It was perhaps a sign of things to come for the veteran with the emergence of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill and Rohit holding on to his spot at the top of the tree.

Knowing Dhawan, however, he will have few regrets and that was amply reflected in his retirement statement via a video.    

"...And that's why I tell myself, don't be sad that you won't play for India again but be happy that you played for your country. And that's the biggest thing for me, that I played.

"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," he said.

We will no longer see that flying cut, the thigh-slap celebration after a catch and the twirl of moustache but those images will endure for a long time to come.