Top 3 knocks of Shikhar Dhawan in ODI cricket

The flamboyant left-hander has had a roller coaster of a career in Test cricket till date, but has time and again proved his mettle in the white ball cricket. He has been a prolific run scorer in the ODI format and has an exceptional record all over the world as opposed to his Test record, in which he has struggled to score outside Asia. He was out of form in the recently concluded Test series against England but he announced his arrival in UAE with an effortless century in colored clothing. He is among the best ODI openers out there. He is the fourth quickest batsmen to score 14 centuries ( in 105 innings). Only Virat Kohli (103 innings), David Warner (98 innings) and Hashim Amla (84 innings) are ahead of him. Now he is just one century shy from equaling the century tally of his predecessor Virender Sehwag. He also equalled Yuvraj Singh's tally of 14 centuries, the second highest by a left-hander. He is only behind Sourav Ganguly who has 22 centuries. He has won many accolades for his performances in ODIs over the past five years.

Let us take a look at 3 of his best knocks in ODI cricket till date.

---

#3 73 ( Off 76 balls) vs Pakistan in 2015 World Cup at Adelaide

Shikhar Dhawan acknowledging the crowd after scoring 50 in the league match of WC2015

Shikhar Dhawan has scored centuries in double digits but this knock stands out from most of them. The sheer quality of the opposition bowling and the necessity of the knock in the context of the game is what makes this more special than his other big knocks.

After the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma at the score of 34 runs, the onus was on Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan to build the innings further. They did exactly that as the duo stitched a 129 run-partnership and provided the middle order the platform to accelerate in the slog overs. Shikhar got run out after scoring 73 crucial runs for India.

#2 114 (Off 94 balls) vs South Africa in 2013 Champions Trophy at Cardiff

Dhawan in action against South Africa in 2013 CT

This was a knock which showed the world his immense potential in ODI cricket. It was also his maiden ODI century. He made a strong statement with the knock as he was coming back into the ODI side after a dismal debut back in 2010. It was this match which solidified his opening combination with Rohit Sharma as they gave India a 127 run-opening partnership, which allowed India to put a match-winning score of 331 runs on the board.

Shikhar Dhawan was at the crease till the 37th over and creamed runs all over the ground before falling to the part-time spinner JP Duminy while looking to up the ante.

#1 137 ( off 146 balls) vs South Africa in 2015 World Cup at Melbourne

Dhawan celebrating his WC Century in his trademark style

This has to be his best innings so far in his career. Dhawan is always known to bring his best game to the ICC tournaments and that is exactly what he did in the 2015 World Cup match against South Africa.

After losing his opening partner Rohit Sharma with just 9 runs on the scorecard, the responsibility was on him to anchor the innings and take the team to a decent total. He played with patience and controlled throughout his innings against the likes of Steyn, Morkel, Philander and Tahir and scored a quality hundred against a quality bowling lineup. India scored 307 runs in the first innings and won convincingly after South Africa got out for 177.