A look into the life of former Indian cricketer, Shikhar Dhawan, who is renowned by the nickname, 'Gabbar'. Here's everything you need to know about his inspiring life story.
Shikhar Dhawan left the entire cricket fraternity and a billion fanatics of the game at a standstill on August 24, 2024, after he announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket. The 38-year-old cricketer, who is renowned by the nicknames, 'Gabbar' and 'Mr ICC,' confirmed in a long video message that his journey with the Indian cricket team has come to an end. Shikhar looked emotional as he thanked his family, coaches, Tarak Sinha and Madan Sharma, teammates, and his massive fanbase worldwide. At the end of his announcement video, Shikhar admitted that his life's biggest honour was to play for India in international tournaments.
In a conversation with the Hindustan Times, Shikhar Dhawan talked about his decision to hang his cricket bat for the national team. The cricketer admitted that more than being emotional, he was filled with gratitude while announcing his retirement because of the love and respect he had received for the last two decades. The cricketer also added that he has achieved everything to reach his potential, which is why he is at ease now.
When Shikhar Dhawan was asked about his biopic, he stated that he would love to act in it, but otherwise, he would love to see Akshay Kumar or Ranveer Singh play him in his biographical drama. Although Shikhar has announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket, but the stakes are high that he will feature in the upcoming 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2025. Now that he has retired from international and domestic cricket, people are looking at his journey and talking about his stellar contribution to the Indian cricket team.
Shikhar Dhawan was born on December 5, 1985, in West Delhi into a Punjabi family to his parents, Mahendra Pal Dhawan and Sunaina Dhawan. The cricketer completed his schooling from St. Mark's Senior Secondary Public School, and at the mere age of 12, he started training at the famous Sonnet Club. Slowly and steadily, Shikhar Dhawan made his place into Delhi under-16 and under-19. Finally, on October 20, 2010, he made his ODI debut against Australia. However, it was in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, when he scored 363 runs in just five matches against England, that cemented his place in the Indian cricket team.
Shikhar Dhawan played 167 ODIs, 34 Tests, and 68 T20Is for the Indian cricket team scoring 6793, 2315, and 1579 respectively. Apart from these stellar numbers in different formats, Shikhar, who is lovingly called as 'Gabbar', also has a lot of impressive records to his name that are far from the grasp of India's most explosive batsmen, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Shikhar's unbreakable records include being the first Indian batsman to hit a century on his 100th ODI match, the fastest century (100 in 85 balls) on his debut Test match against Australia, and the fastest Indian player to make 2000 and 3000 runs in ODIs, and most runs (689) for India in a calendar year in T20I.
In his illustrious career, Shikhar Dhawan faced a lot of bumps as he was dropped from the team time and again due to injury or the introduction of promising young players in the selection pool. A slight drop in Shikhar's international performance gave enough room for youngsters like Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer to shine on the biggest stage. Despite so many obstacles, he continued giving his best, and so far, he has 6,769 runs in the 222 matches that he has played in the IPL so far. We hope he continues to play for many seasons to come, as it is the last format where we can see his magic.
Shikhar Dhawan got married to a trained kickboxer, Ayesha Mukherjee in October 2012. It was Ayesha's second marriage, who was previously married to an Australian businessman and they had two daughters, Rhea and Aliyah. However, after Shikhar and Ayesha's marriage, the couple welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in 2014 and named him Zorawar.
Unfortunately, after being together for nine long years, Shikhar Dhawan and Ayesha Mukherjee parted ways in October 2023 due to irreconcilable issues. Ayesha was given custody of his son, Zorawar, but she has not allowed her ex-husband, Shikhar Dhawan to meet their son for the last three years. We have repeatedly seen Shikhar posting about it and sharing his pain with his followers.
We wish Shikhar Dhawan a happy retirement. He has given his heart and soul to Indian cricket. We hope he finds peace in his personal space and leads a happy and sound life.
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