India vs Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan watches ODI feat in 1st series as Captain
Appointed captain for the Sri Lanka tour, Shikhar Dhawan is at a stage in his career where he is in line to rewrite the record books every time he takes the field. Dhawan will travel to the 3-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, watching the main sights.
Sri Lanka’s limited-overs tour, consisting of three ODIs and as many T20s, will begin on July 18 in Colombo. The left-handed opener was handed the reins of the team after Virat Kohli and other key players were sent to England for the WTC Final against New Zealand and the five-Test series against the hosts.
Dhawan bids to break Ganguly’s record
Shikhar Dhawan has an opportunity to break Sourav Ganguly’s India record for the second-fastest Indian batsman to reach 6,000 ODI runs. Regular captain Virat Kohli remains the fastest (136 innings) to reach this milestone, followed by Ganguly (147 innings) while Dhawan has played 139 ODI innings.
As of now, Dhawan has amassed 5977 runs in 139 ODI innings at a healthy average of 45.28 and a strike rate of 93.9 with 17 hundred. Dhawan is just 23 runs away from becoming the 10th Indian batsman with 6,000 or more runs in ODI cricket. If he achieves the feat during the series he would join an elite group.
Sachin Tendulkar (18,426), Virat Kohli (12,169), Sourav Ganguly (11,363), Rahul Dravid (10,889), MS Dhoni (10,773), Mohammad Azharuddin (9,378), Rohit Sharma (9,205), Yuvraj Singh (8,701), and Virender Sehwag (8,273) lead the Indian list of highest run-scorers in ODI cricket.
Dhawan eyes 1,000 ODI runs vs Sri Lanka
On the upcoming tour, Dhawan can become the only 12th Indian batsman to complete 1,000 ODI runs against Sri Lanka. The senior opener has scored 983 runs against the Island nation at a phenomenal average of 70.21. He has smashed 4 hundred and 5 fifties against them.
“It is a big achievement for me that I have become the captain of the Indian side. As a leader, my idea is to keep everyone together and happy that is the most important thing,” Dhawan said on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’.
“We have got a lovely bunch of boys, great support staff, and we have worked earlier as well.”
