Shikhar Dhawan's Retirement: What Influenced His Decision To Step Away from All Forms Of Cricket?

Former Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, 38, announced his retirement in August 2024, following an impressive career spanning nine years from 2013 to 2022 including 34 Tests, 167 ODIs and 68 T20Is. In his statement, he expressed he didn't have the "inspiration" to play domestic cricket for a shot at national team.

Shikhar Dhawan Highlights About Domestic Cricket Only Way To Receive National Call Up

"I didn't want to play domestic cricket, which I started playing at the age of 18 or 19 and I didn't have that inspiration from inside to play that (form of) cricket," Dhawan told PTI.

Dhawan etched his name in history as India's 25th ODI captain when he was promoted during a game against Sri Lanka in June of last year, in place of the injured Rohit Sharma. He captained the side in 12 ODIs, claiming seven victories and three defeats. Dhawan lost the ODI World Cup 2023 berth to the rising star Shubman Gill. The last time he wore the national jersey was in December 2022.

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"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 Shikhar

Dhawan Opines About IPL

A true legend of the IPL, Dhawan played 222 matches, scored 6,769 runs during his stint with the team with two centuries and 51 half-centuries under his belt. He broke the record for the most fours in IPL history with 768 and was the first player to score consecutive hundreds in the IPL.

Dhawan acknowledged that though preparation should have begun two to three months prior to the start of the IPL in his opinion, a return to the national side won't be prepared in that time. He had an extraordinary average of 65.15-highest among all Indian players in ICC limited-overs formats and wished on reflection, he had started playing the latter stages of Ranji Trophy more enthusiastically than he did.

"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 said as he opened about his mindset before announcing the big decision.

'I Was Very Happy & Satisfied': Shikhar Dhawan On His Retirement

"So that was the reason for me to just call it off, and yeah, I was very happy and satisfied and content with whatever I achieved in my career, and very, very grateful for everything," he said.

"Of course, we would have loved to win the World Cup," said Dhawan, who played in the 2015 and 2019 iterations of the ODI World Cup and was also a member of India's title-winning side in the 2013 Champions Trophy.

"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 said.

Dhawan also features in the all-time list of highest runs in partnership in ODIs, at eighth position; along with Rohit Sharma, he has provided a stable force that put together 5,193 runs at an average of 45.15 in 117 games, including 18 centuries and 15 half-centuries.

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'He Is A Very Experienced Captain': Dhawan Praises Rohit Sharma

Shikhar Dhawan highlighted India's World Cup win under the leadership of Rohit Sharma.

"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.

"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.