Shikhar Dhawan is known by many as one of the best players to have opened the batting for Team India in international cricket. During his long career which has spanned over a decade, Dhawan has played some truly fascinating innings which have made his special nickname 'Gabbar' famous across the cricketing stratosphere.
In an exclusive interview with SportsTak, Dhawan, who has played domestic cricket with Delhi in the Ranji Trophy and other tournaments, recently opened up on why the star batter is now known across the world as 'Gabbar'
"I was playing in the Ranji Trophy and was sitting at silly point. When the other team has a big partnership then the players tend to get down. When I was sitting, I used to shout, 'Bahut yaarana hai suar ke bacchon' and everyone used to burst out laughing. Our coach (Vijay) kept my name Gabbar from there only. From there, the name became so famous that cricket fans all over the world now call me gabbar only," he said in the exclusive interview.
Dhawan has been India's most consistent performer at 50-over ICC events. He was India's top-scorer at the 2013 Champions Trophy (363 runs), 2015 World Cup (412 runs), and 2017 Champions Trophy (338 runs) and scored a brilliant century against Australia early in the tournament but was ruled out after fracturing his thumb.
Dhawan last turned out for Team India during the ODI series against Bangladesh, scoring only 7, 8 and 3 in the three matches respectively. He has then been omitted from the following series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia.
"When Rohit took over the captaincy he along with (coach) Rahul Dravid backed me enough. They told me they wanted me to focus on my cricket and that my vision should be the next World Cup. 2022 was very good for me, I was consistent in ODIs. But there is this young guy who has been doing well in two formats, and when my form dipped in a series or two then they gave a chance to Shubman and he has lived up to their expectation. We are used to such situations," Dhawan added.
For now, Dhawan will be concentrating on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, where he will captain Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 16th edition of the tournament.
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