Shikhar Dhawan Love Story: Love is fickle-minded. It has the power to build a person, or a relationship, but once the feelings for a person change, everything around them can come crashing down, like a well-constructed tower razed to the ground by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. It does not see gender, caste, creed, religion or occupation, but has the ability to completely turn a person's life around, for better or for worse. And that is what India's beloved veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan had to go through when he divorced his wife Ayesha Mukherjee.
Ayesha's previous marriage and how she met Dhawan
Ayesha Mukherjee is an Anglo-Indian who was born in West Bengal. When she was 8 years old her family moved to Australia, where she picked up an affinity for different sports, becoming a trained kickboxer. In fact, it was her love for sports that attracted her to the Indian opener.
But before she could meet Dhawan, Ayesha was married to an Australian businessman. In 2000, they welcomed their first child, Aliyah, and in 2005, their second daughter Rhea was born. But the two ended up getting divorced. It was after this that Dhawan and Ayesha connected, on Facebook of all places!
One day, when Shikhar was scrolling through his Facebook feed, he stumbled upon Ayesha’s pictures and was immediately bowled over by her. She turned out to be a mutual friend with Dhawan's close friend Harbhajan Singh and after consulting the former spinner, Shikhar dropped Ayesha a friend request, which she accepted. This gave rise to many long Facebook conversations and a budding friendship, which soon turned to love.
Dhawan fought his dad for Ayesha
Harbhajan Singh got the two together, but there were other obstacles that might have prevented the two of them from becoming one.
Dhawan’s family were not very happy with the bond that he shared with Ayesha. It was an especially difficult task for Dhawan to convince his father Mahendra Pal Dhawan about getting married to Ayesha, despite having the support of his mother Sunaina Dhawan, who was positive about their union.
But given Dhaawan's high stature in cricket and the respect that he commands in the country, it was not extremely difficult to convince his father about their alliance. The two got engaged in 2009, but Shikhar insisted on waiting for some time before they tied the knot.
He first wanted to establish himself as a successful cricketer for India, and also wanted time to get close and fatherly with Ayesha’s daughters Aliyah and Rhea. Ayesha too made sure that her daughters have a cordial relationship with Shikhar. Finally, after defying all the odds, Shikhar and Ayesha tied the knot on October 30, 2012. Despite Ayesha being a Bengali, Shikhar and her had a traditional Sikh wedding, which was attended by many cricketers including Virat Kohli.
A love for all ages
Given the mindset of Indians, the first thing that many noticed was the obvious and glaring age difference between the two. But this did not faze Dhawan. Ayesha is 10 years elder than Shikhar. But Shikhar was completely smitten by Ayesha and her zest for life. For him, she was his best friend first and the two loved to explore new things together.
Shikhar Dhawan daughters
Once, in an interview with The Times of India, Shikhar was asked whether he found it difficult to get along with his wife's daughters. The 'Gabbar of Indian cricket' replied saying, “It wasn't difficult at all. Joh cheez kudrat se hoti hai woh ekdum aapki zindagi mein dhal jaati hain. Meri kismet mein thi meri do betiyaan, toh woh ekdum se meri zindagi mein aa gayi. It just clicked. Today, the way they love me, I feel so fortunate.”
Shikhar Dhawan son
In 2014, Shikhar and Ayesha welcomed their first child together. Ayesha gave birth to Shikhar Dhawan’s son, Zoravar Dhawan, on December 26, 2014, completing the family portrait of the Dhawan's. Talking about the Dhawan children, Aliyah is 22, Rhea is 16 years old, and Zoravar is 6.
Shikhar Dhawan divorce
Dhawan and Ayesha separated in 2021, and Ayesha shared a long post on Instagram to announce the news. She wrote a special caption to address the rumours.
Dhawan is now India's ODI regular, having lost his place in the T20 World Cup squad. He regularly travels to Australia to be with his children and also shares many stories and posts with his children. But given their six-year marriage and even longer relationship, it will be interesting to who manages to floor Dhawan, and if he finds love for himself again.
