Shikhar Dhawan gets closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s elite record in ICC tournaments

India captain Virat Kohli and their vice-captain in limited-overs cricket Rohit Sharma remain mostly in the headlines whenever discussions are held on batting. Kohli and Rohit are in the second and third spots, respectively, as far as India’s ODI centuries are concerned.

But another batsman has also started making his presence felt now and that is Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit’s opening partner. Although Dhawan is no less a batting force, he has come closer to none other than Sachin Tendulkar with respect to a top record and his performance has impressed the former batting maestro as well.

Dhawan scores his third hundred in World Cup

Dhawan, who slammed his 17th ODI century at the Oval on Sunday has now six tons in ICC events and that puts him just one short of Tendulkar’s record of seven. The 34-year-old southpaw’s 117 in 109 balls against Australia helped India secure a memorable victory by 36 runs and continue with their all-win record so far.

It was also Dhawan’s third World Cup century in just his second edition. In the list of hundreds scored in ICC tournaments, Dhawan shares his laurels with former greats Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) and Ricky Ponting (Australia). Another cricketer who also shares the top record with Tendulkar is former India captain Sourav Ganguly. The ICC tournaments include the World Cup and Champions Trophy.

“It (record break) better happen in this World Cup, Shikhar. You better do it in England. If that happens, it means India is doing well. We Indians, want all of you (batsmen) to go and do something special so that bowlers can come in and put pressure on the opposition,” Tendulkar, who backed Dhawan to break his record in the ongoing tournament, was quoted as saying by India Today on Sunday.

In the 2015 World Cup as well, Dhawan scored a hundred in India’s second match of the tournament which was against South Africa. He later hit another ton against Ireland in the same edition.

Tendulkar was also elated over the fact that Dhawan chose a grand way to silence his critics through his hundred. “He answered it (criticism) beautifully. He scored a brilliant hundred today. He must be feeling fantastic. That’s one special feeling. When you go to the hotel room and look at the mirror, you say ‘wow, I have done something special’,” he said.