Top 5 innings by Shikhar Dhawan

Over the past decade and a bit more, India have had some terrific opening batsmen and their involvement in Indian victories across formats, are nothing short of significant.

Sachin-Ganguly, followed by Sachin-Sehwag, Sehwag-Gambhir and so on have all played important partnerships for the team in the opening slot. The latest in this long list is Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan who have been doing exceptionally great jobs for the past many years.

While the archives may dish out several memorable pieces done on Rohit Sharma, it doesn't take away anything from his partner Dhawan, who is equally skilled if not more. In fact, it has been a really long time Since India previously boasted of someone like Australia's Adam Gilchrist or Matthew Hayden, someone who is a naturally attacking left-handed opener. Dhawan fulfils the role for the Men in Blue, these days.

Shikhar Dhawan, with his side-on batting stance and nearly non-existent time delay in trigger movement, forms an impenetrable top-order with Rohit and skipper Virat Kohli. And today, the man fondly known as "Gabbar" celebrates the occasion of his 33rd birthday.

Whilst wishing him a very happy day, here we also bring you the best of all innings played by Shikhar Dhawan till date:

#1 187(174) vs Australia, March 15 and 16, 2013.

Occasion: India's 1st innings, 3rd Test, Australia's tour of India at Chandigarh, March 14-18, 2013.

Dhawan's introduction to the all-whites format began with a bang. The opener blasted his way to 187 runs of 174 balls in his maiden innings.

Batting first, Australia had made 408 thanks to Mitchell Stark (99), Steven Smith (92*), Ed Cowan (86) and David Warner (71). India started batting in reply on Day 2 afternoon, with Dhawan and Murali Vijay (153 off 317) at the crease.

The left-hander's cricketing experience at the highest stage was limited to ODIs and T20Is until then, and that was seen from the way he batted - as he looked to hit every ball. The minimal number of errors worked in his favour too, and as a result, he raced off to a record fastest hundred on Test debut by any batsman (85 balls) - a record still unbeaten.

India did not lose a wicket for the whole day, and the next day too, the Delhi batsman continued from where he had left off. By the time he was caught by Ed Cowan off a Nathan Lyon delivery, he had amassed 187 runs off 174 balls, including 33 fours and 2 sixes. It is still one of the highest scores achieved on debut by a batsman.

India ended their first innings at 499 runs and bowled Australia out for 223, after which they chased the resulting target of 132 runs with great ease. Dhawan did not bat in the second innings, but with the one innings he played, he had garnered enough damage to blow away the Aussies from the contest.

India eventually won the series as well, whitewashing the Aussies 4-0.

#2 248 (150) vs South Africa A, August 12, 2013

Occasion: First innings, 6th match, India A's tour of South Africa at Pretoria, August 12, 2013.

This is also the second highest score in List-A/International cricket, coming behind Rohit Sharma's 264 against Sri Lanka.

After the success in his early Test matches and a moderate showing in IPL 2013, Shikhar was included in the India A squad set to tour South Africa for a set of limited over games in a tri-series that also included Australia A. It was a List-A game only by name, as Team India featured the likes of Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and so on, while South Africa did not hold themselves back either, with Reesa Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw, Dean Elgar, van der Merwe and so on turning up for them as well.

Dhawan had scores of 15 and 85 from two games prior to this, in the series. He was also rested in one game. But all that was history in a few hours, with Dhawan smashing 30 fours and 7 sixes to his 150-ball-248. He not only crossed double hundred but also came to the point where he was just two runs shy for a 250. Thanks to him, Vijay (40) and Pujara (109), India A made 433 runs in 50 overs.

In reply, South Africa scored 394 runs and lost by 39 runs. Had it been any other game, victory would have been theirs. It was Dhawan's lone innings that kept the Indian target at such a high spot, making it impossible for the hosts to reach it. The innings he played also became the fastest List-A double hundred and the highest List-A/International ODI innings, before Rohit Sharma bettered it a year later.

India eventually won the tri-series, Dhawan's 65 runs helping them overcome Australia-A by 50 runs, in the final.

#3 137 (146) vs South Africa, February 22, 2015

Occasion: First innings, 13th match, Pool B of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Melbourne, February 22, 2015.

This is arguably Dhawan's best knock in ODIs.

Placed alongside heavyweights like Pakistan, Windies, South Africa and so on, India needed a constant run on wins in the Group Stage of the World Cup, to earn a place in the knockout stages. The win against Pakistan provided the right start, but there was a need to keep it coming in the games that followed.

It was in such a scenario that India faced South Africa. Despite being the defending champions, fewer people fancied India's chances to the throne than South Africa - that was how strong the latter side was. But that did not deter Shikhar, who helped India come off with a memorable victory.

Batting first, India sniffed trouble at 1/9 in 2.5 overs, when Rohit Sharma departed. But Dhawan got an efficient partner in Virat Kohli (46), with whom he created an effective partnership of 127 runs in close to 25 overs.

When Virat departed at 2/136 in 27.1 overs, trouble was not yet over and out came Ajinkya Rahane (79), with whom Dhawan made another century stand (125 runs). By the time he got out at 3/261 in 43.4 overs, India had enough runs on board to win the game, and roughly seven overs to add much more to the score as well.

The total runs scored by him on that day added to 137 runs. The one thing different from all of his other big-innings-games is that fact that he scored at less than a run-a-ball, for perhaps the only time in his career. While Shikhar Dhawan used to mean "big-hitting", this one innings highlighted that the batsman has gained a lot of maturity, with him showing his ability to bat through the innings sensibly, if that is the need of the hour. The 146-ball innings included 18 hits to the fence, including 2 maximums.

In reply, South Africa could make only 177 runs before they ran out of wickets. No one apart from Faf du Plessis (55), AB de Villiers (30) and David Miller (22) did much with the bat, India thus winning by 130 runs.

India eventually advanced so far as the semifinals, where they got eliminated by a defeat to Australia who went on to lift the cup.

#4 190 (168) vs Sri Lanka, July 26, 2017

Occasion: India's 1st innings, 1st Test, India's tour of Sri Lanka at Galle, July 26-29, 2017.

This is also Shikhar Dhawan's highest score in Test Cricket.

Sri Lanka chose to begin their series with India by trying them to outfox India in a very tricky wicket at Galle. But as they say, "Man Proposes, God Disposes". Only that the "God" in this situation is a bald man with a twirly moustache, and goes by the nickname "Gabbar".

India were put to bat first, but with Shikhar Dhawan at the helm, it seemed a very easy task to do. India skyrocketed to 600 runs, with Dhawan making 190 of them, all by himself.

India lost an early wicket in Vijay, but Pujara (153) and Shikhar then combined to produce a 200+ run stand, and by the time he departed on 2/280, he had made roughly 70% of those runs all by himself. The innings included 31 fours as well.

Sri Lanka made 291 runs in reply, after which India added another 240 runs to their score before declaring, setting the hosts a target of 550 runs to win. Sri Lanka did not even get halfway there, crumbling down by the time they scored 245 - India thus winning by 304 runs.

India eventually won the series as well, whitewashing the hosts 3-0.

#5 92(62) vs Windies, November 11, 2018

Occasion: First innings, 3rd T20I, Windies' tour of India at Chennai, November 11, 2018.

This is Dhawan's highest score in T20Is.

India had already attained an unassailable lead in the series by winning both the first two matches of the three-match series and the third game was looked upon as a chance for the home side to whitewash the series, also ending the home season in a good note.

But the Windies, who had a dismal run in the series till then was determined to pull one back, and Pooran (53*), Bravo (43), Hetmyer (26) and Hope (24) helped them post 181 runs on board.

In reply, India lost two early wickets in Rohit Sharma (1/13 in 2.2 overs) and KL Rahul (2/45 in 5.2 overs), but Shikhar and Rishabh Pant (58 off 38) drew the ship closer to shore, one over at a time, one good shot after another. The duo gathered 130 runs in 13 overs and by the time Pant departed to a lazy shot, India needed just 7 runs to win from 10 balls.

Dhawan also fell a bit later, when India needed 1 run to win from 2 balls, but by then, the damage was done and Manish Pandey stole a single in the very last ball to grant India a 3-0 series whitewash.

Dhawan's innings (92 off 62, 10 fours, 2 sixes) remained the focal point of India's chase. The innings also helped him get selected to the Australian T20I series, where a couple of good knocks made him Man of the Series there.