A significant moment in Indian cricket history will
soon mark its ten-year milestone. You might be able to identify it by looking
at the date. The location most likely will. 16 October 2013. Jaipur.
It was the second One-Day International in a
seven-match series of enormous run-fests. Australia opened the bowling and made
359 for 5. India had never attempted a chase of that size before, and a higher
total had only ever been surpassed once in all ODIs. And if you were an India supporter
of a certain type, you might have unconsciously remembered that Australia had
given India the same goal in the World Cup final in 2003.
This time, India pursued it. By nine wickets, they
won. They won by 39 balls with 39 remaining. Thirty-nine.
Three hitters who were at various phases of their
ascent to ODI stardom saw their careers take a turn for the better with that
triumph.
Perhaps Virat Kohli was already there; his unbeaten
52-ball 100, which remains the fastest century by an Indian batsman in ODIs,
was a startling demonstration that, after scoring 183 and 133 not out, he was
capable of doing this as well. With two hundreds and an average of 32.50 from
his prior 103 ODIs, Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten 141 off 123 balls,
providing the first serious indication of the technique that would make him a
prolific producer of enormously high hundreds.
Kohli and Rohit will be in between World Cup games
between Pakistan in Ahmedabad and Bangladesh in Pune on the tenth anniversary
of this encounter.
They won’t be joined by Shikhar Dhawan, who gave
India’s Jaipur chase a crucial early boost with 95 off 86 balls.
Dhawan hasn’t played for India since the Chattogram
ODI last December; it’s not your fault; you simply had too much else to keep
track of. Dhawan is a modern ODI great and one of only eight batters in the
history of the format with over 5000 runs at a 40-plus average and a 90-plus
strike rate (Rohit and Kohli are two of the others).
After five largely forgettable games in 2010 and 2011,
Dhawan earned an ODI comeback after scoring an exhilarating 187 on Test debut.
Gill’s 2023 and his comeback year’s 2013 both had 1162 runs at 50.52 and a
strike rate of 97.89. Dhawan had just played 28 games when he reached his fifth
ODI hundred that November. Gill hit his sixth hundred against Bangladesh during
the Asia Cup in his 32nd game, which stands as the Indian ODI record.
Before the 2019 World Cup, it was even possible to
argue that Dhawan should have opened the innings alongside Tendulkar in India’s
all-time ODI XI due to the tactical advantage of being left-handed while
providing a middle ground between Virender Sehwag’s frantic starts and Rohit’s
rate of century scoring.
During the 2019 World Cup, Rohit went on to put an end
to the dispute by scoring a historic five hundreds. Dhawan only participated in
two matches before leaving the competition after breaking his thumb while
scoring 117 against Australia.
The pair of Rohit and Dhawan has thus been replaced by
Rohit and Gill, which is a reflection of both the quicker ODI rhythm in general
and the fact that India is now overrun with middle-order options. During this
ODI cycle, both Rohit and Gill have struck at above 93 in the powerplay and
over 100 overall. No accumulator exists.
Therefore, even though Dhawan cannot play at the top
of India’s order, their manner of play completely departs from his playbook
from his prime. It’s possible that he hasn’t actually left because he isn’t
missed.