World Cup 2019: Shikhar Dhawan’s importance for India at the top

India has been jolted by a big blow in the World Cup 2019 as Shikhar Dhawan suffered a fracture on a thumb during his match-winning century against Australia. Dhawan is certainly ruled out of India’s next two matches against New Zealand and Pakistan and cloud stay over his participation in the latter stages.

Shikhar becomes a different batsman during the ICC ODI tournaments as he stood out as the top scorer in the 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy and was India’s top run-getter in the World Cup 2015 as well. Since his pairing with Rohit Sharma in the CT 2013, the duo has been the most valuable one for India in ODIs, especially during the big events.

All the major stats and numbers that define the greatness of Shikhar Dhawan at the big stages:

6 – Shikhar Dhawan has scored six centuries in the ICC ODI events (CWC and CT); the joint 2nd most by any player. Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar lead this list with seven hundreds apiece while Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara also struck six tons. Dhawan has scored three centuries apiece in the World Cup and Champions Trophy in ten innings respectively.

6 – Dhawan has added six century stands with Rohit Sharma in the ICC ODI events; the joint-most by any pair. The Australian pair of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden also have six such partnerships but in six more innings than Rohit-Dhawan pair.

16 – Innings Shikhar Dhawan needed to complete 1000 runs in ICC ODI events; the quickest to reach the milestone. He broke the record held by Sachin Tendulkar (in 18 innings) during the Champions Trophy 2017.

19 – Dhawan is the quickest player to score 1000 ODI runs in England as he needed only 19 innings for the milestone. He thus broke the record held by Sir Viv Richards (in 21 inns) during the game against Australia.

25.81 – Shikhar Dhawan has accounted for 25.81 % of runs scored by the Indian team in the 20 matches he played across the ICC ODI events (CWC & CT); the highest by any player for his team. (Min: 10 matches) Jonathan Trott comes second on this list with 22.74% runs of England in the 12 games he played in these events.

64.76 – Shikhar Dhawan’s ODI batting average of 64.76 in England is the best among the players with 1000 runs. Sir Viv Richards (64.04) is the only other player with 60+ batting average in ODIs in England.

65.15 – Dhawan has the best batting average among the 38 players with 1000+ runs in ICC ODI events. The left-hander aggregated 1238 runs in 20 innings with six hundreds and four half-centuries.

1046 – In 16 outings, the opening pair of Dhawan and Rohit have shared 1046 runs at an average of 65.37 in the ODIs on England soil. The pair of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy (1237 in 14 inns) is the only other opening pair with over 1000 partnership runs for the first wicket.

1335 – Dhawan and Rohit pair added 1335 runs in the ICC ODI events which is the 2nd most by any pair. Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden pair have 1539 runs in 26 stands. The Indian pair has opened the innings together in ICC ODI events on 20 instances and shared 1335 runs at an average of 66.75 with six 100-run partnerships and five 50-run stands.