How Shikhar Dhawan Got Left Behind Despite Splendid Performances In ICC Tournaments?

Star Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement in a social media post this morning. The batter released a video in which he explained his decision to retire. He announced that he was permanently retiring from International and Domestic Cricket. 

The retirement of one of India's best batters has left the public emotional and heavy hearted with people and cricket stars alike taking to social media to shower praises and congratulations on Mr. ICC. Shikhar Dhawan had last featured in a cricket match in the IPL 2024 for Punjab Kings. He last donned the Indian jersey back in 2022 when he played against Bangladesh. 

Why Did The Downfall Of Mr. ICC Happen? 

Shikhar Dhawan has been nicknamed Mr. ICC due to his immaculate performances in ICC tournaments and on the big stages. Whenever he was needed, ‘Gabbar’ stepped up. He scored over 10,000 runs across three formats. His stats are: 2,315 runs in tests, 6,793 runs in ODIs, and 1,579 runs in T20Is.

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Mr. ICC was in absolutely splendid touch but then the question arises why did he lose his standing within the Indian Cricket Team if he was playing so well? 

There were several cricketing reasons due to which Shikhar Dhawan had to take the back foot in Indian Cricket. He last played for India in 2022 against Bangladesh. From that point onwards, Indian cricket saw a newer fresh batch of youngsters starting to come in. This batch of youngsters included players like Shubhman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan. 

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Dhawan had trouble keeping up with these youngster and due to there being a lot of fight to be in the playing-11 amongst more than 30-players, Dhawan lost his footing in the Indian cricketing scenario. 

Troubled Family Life 

There is also the case of what was going on in Shikhar Dhawan's personal life during this time. Dhawan went through a massive divorcee with his wife Ayesha Mukherjee. During the divorce proceedings Dhawan's personal life and mental health was also rocked. Due to this he had to focus on himself rather than on playing cricket. There is also the point that Shikhar Dhawan also lost the custody rights to his son and isn't able to meet him. 

These string of events that took place in the life of Shikhar Dhawan arguably took a massive toll on him and resulted in him losing his ground in Indian Cricket and going on a backstep even after being in fine touch with the bat.