Veteran southpaw Shikhar Dhawan scales historic milestone; joins Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli in elite list

Following a mature knock of 72 off 77 deliveries against New Zealand in the first ODI of the series at Eden Park in Auckland, India's stand-in skipper Shikhar Dhawan became the seventh Indian batter to score 12000 plus runs in List A cricket.

Dhawan needed 47 runs to achieve this milestone and in the end, did it in style with his 39th half-century in ODI cricket. His overall career in the format includes 47 centuries. Over the years, the southpaw has proved his class time and again and had also played a massive part in India’s win in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

On Friday, along with his opening partner Shubman Gill, he gave India an ideal start. Gill, who kept his calm under pressure scored a half-century before Shreyas Iyer came and stole the show in the middle overs. In the end, Washington Sundar’s phenomenal cameo broke a few records as India registered 306 on board after 50 overs.

However, the bowlers completely let the Men in Blue down as the Kiwis had no problem whatsoever in chasing the total down. After three quick wickets of Finn Allen, Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell, the Indian team were cruising to a win but Tom Latham and captain Kane Williamson pulled the game back to hand New Zealand a win in the first match of the ODI series.

Dhawan, the stand-in captain of the Indian team in the post-match presentation revealed that the team was confident to win the game in the mid-innings and pointed out where their plan went wrong.

“We felt good about the total. First 10-15 overs the ball did a lot. It's a bit different than other grounds. Have to plan accordingly. Today we've bowled short of length and Latham attacked us there. That's where he took the game away from us especially in the 40th over. That's where the momentum shifted,” Dhawan said as quoted by Cricbuzz.