Shikhar Dhawan answered his critics in style with a record-breaking half-century as captain in the first ODI of the three-ODI series against West Indies. Dhawan missed his 18th ODI century by just three runs but managed to break Mohammad Azharuddin’s 23-year-old record. Dhawan is now the oldest Indian captain to register a half-century as captain in ODIs.
Dhawan is currently 36 years and 229 days old. Azharuddin's last ODI half-century as captain came against Pakistan in 1999 when he was 36 years and 120 days old. Azharuddin had another half-century in the same year against England as well.
Dhawan was unlucky to miss the century and joined Sourav Ganguly's old feat as well. This was Dhawan's sixth dismissal in 90s in the format. Former Indian skipper Ganguly had six ODI scores in 90s as well. The list is led by Sachin Tendulkar who got dismissed 17 times in 90s in the ODI format.
The 36-year-old shared a 119-run opening stand with Shubman Gill. This is Dhawan's fourth ODI 100-plus opening stand against West Indies in West Indies.
Also, it is Dhawan’s 53rd fifty-plus score in ODIs. He surpassed former Indian opener Virender Sehwag on the list. Currently, he is ninth on the Indian list of most fifty-plus scores in the 50-over format.
At At Queen's Park Oval, he led the team from the front. He scored 97 runs from 99 deliveries including 10 fours and three sixes. After the partnership with Gill, he shared a 96-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who scored a half-century.
The southpaw lost his wicket in the 34th over of the innings. He got dismissed by Gudakesh Motie as skipper Nicholas Pooran took an excellent catch.
"Ajeeb kya lagega, aab toh 10 saal hogaya (I don't feel odd, I have heard it for 10 years). People keep talking, I keep performing. If I listened to them, I wouldn't be here,” Dhawan had said on the eve of the first ODI responding to his criticism after unimpressive show in England.
"I have the experience, so I'm not too worried. As long as I self-analyse and improve, nothing else matters," he added.
