India’s legendary opening batter Shikhar Dhawan also called Mr. ICC, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket with immediate effect. The left-hander used social media to announce the end of his more than 13-year career with India, during which he appeared in 34 Test matches, 167 One-Day Internationals, and 68 Twenty20 matches, amassing 2315, 6793, and 1579 runs in the three different formats respectively. 

“It’s important to turn the page to move forward in a story, and in life. That’s why, I am announcing my retirement from international and domestic cricket,” Dhawan said in his retirement video. “I’ve told myself to not feel sad that you won’t play for India again, but feel happy that you played for the country.”

The 38-year-old’s final match for India was an ODI at Chattogram against Bangladesh in December 2022, while his final T20I was at Sri Lanka in July 2021. Dhawan hadn’t appeared in the longest format of the game since 2018. His season was prematurely terminated by an injury when he played his final competitive game for the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2024 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in April this year. 

Dhawan gained notoriety during the 2004 U-19 World Cup by amassing 505 runs and three centuries. He batted in a powerful Delhi order alongside Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. With his sophisticated cover drives and cut shots, he established himself as a formidable offside player. He eventually made his debut for India in 2010 against Australia  but was out for a duck.

But unlike his ODI debut, three years later in March 2013, he made his Test debut in Mohali against Australia and in just 85 deliveries, he achieved the fastest Test century on debut. From then on, he flourished, in 2013, forming a solid opening partnership with Rohit Sharma that was crucial to India’s victory in the Champions Trophy in England, when he scored 2 hundreds to pile up 363 runs.

Dhawan was known as a big match and big tournamnet player, which led fans to call him Mr. ICC. One of Dhawan’s most famous knocks occurred during the 2015 Cricket World Cup against South Africa at the MCG. He took players like Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell, and Vernon Philander to the cleaners and established himself as the man for ICC events. Similar to this, Dhawan scored a century against Australia to begin the ICC 2019 World Cup. However, a minor fracture to his thumb prevented him from playing in the remaining matches.

In addition, Dhawan captained India in 15 matches (12 ODIs and 3 T20Is), as well as 33 games overall for the Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and the Champions League T20. When he captained India, his win-loss record was 8-5 with 2 no-results. In the ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2021 and the West Indies and South Africa in 2022, he guided the team to victories. While leading the team in the franchise tournaments, Dhawan found it difficult; his win-loss record was 13 victories against 20 losses.