Stats: Shikhar Dhawan scores his 14th ODI century

Shikhar Dhawan bounced back from a string of low scores in the England tour where he failed to score a fifty across 14 innings in all three formats. He got a couple of starts in the United Kingdom but failed to convert them each and every time. However, the opening game against Hong Kong in the ongoing Asia Cup served as a good warm-up for Dhawan who scored an attacking hundred ahead of the crucial game against Pakistan and the Super-Four round.

He smashed 127 only off 120 deliveries with 15 fours and a couple of massive sixes. After the skipper Rohit Sharma got out for a 22-ball 23, Dhawan shared a 116-run stand with Ambati Rayudu who scored 60 on his comeback to the Indian team after two years. Later, the left-hander added 79 runs for the 3rd wicket with Dinesh Karthik in only 68 balls. This was Dhawan’s third century in last 11 ODI innings.

He notched up his 14th ton in 105 innings, the second fewest innings taken among Indian players. Virat Kohli hit his 14th ODI century in 103 innings. The duo from Delhi is placed at number three and four in the overall list. AB de Villiers, in March 2013, set the record for fewest innings taken to score the same number of centuries in the ODI cricket taking 131 innings. However, his feat was surpassed by four batsmen including Dhawan all of them taking less than 25 innings than the South African great.

In fact, De Villiers’ record didn’t even stand six months as Kohli scored his 14th ODI ton in his 103rd innings in July during the tri-series in the Caribbean. A year later, Hashim Amla bettered the record by 19 innings when he got to his the three-figure score for the 14th time in only 84 outings. Earlier in 2017, the Australian opener David Warner scored his 14th hundred in his milestone 100th ODI game which was his 98th innings in the middle.

Fastest to the 14th century in ODI cricket:

(Stats as on September 18, 2018)

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