Shikhar Dhawan on 'hat-trick'; can break captaincy records in 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka

India's stand-in white-ball captain Shikhar Dhawan is on the verge of breaking a captaincy record that even the likes of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli could never achieve. If Team India wins the third ODI against Sri Lanka, Dhawan will go down in history as the first Indian to complete a series whitewash in his debut ODI series. Dhawan has already led Team India to victories in the first two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) of the three-match series. The third ODI is scheduled for Friday, July 23, and Dhawan will be eager to complete a clean sweep of the opposition.

MS Dhoni, widely regarded as one of the best captains in the world, lost his first ODI series as captain in 2007 to a powerful Australian team, which won the seven-match series 4-2. After Dhoni was ruled out due to injury during the 2013 West Indies Tri-series tour, Virat Kohli was named India's ODI captain. Kohli was defeated by the hosts in his first ODI as captain. Sourav Ganguly was appointed captain of Team India for the first time in the year 2000 when he led a young ODI side to a five-match series victory over South Africa. In his first ODI series, Ganguly lost two of five matches.

Dhawan's stats as player

Dhawan has played 143 ODI matches for Team India and has scored 6,063 runs at an average of 45.93, including 17 centuries. Dhawan has also been a key player for his Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Delhi Capitals, in recent seasons, scoring over 500 runs in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the cash-rich tournament. Dhawan has already scored 380 runs in the first half of the IPL 2021 and will be looking to surpass 500 runs for the third year in a row, in order to secure his spot, as an opener in the Indian squad for T20 World Cup. 

India will also play a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, starting from Sunday, July 25. All matches of the series will be played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. This will be India's final T20I series before the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE, and all members will be hoping to get a chance and do well in order to be selected to play in the marquee ICC event.

Image: ShikharDhawan/Twitter