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When Shikhar Dhawan announced his arrival in style: Revisiting Gabbar's debut heroics vs AUS

Aakash Saini

Shikhar Dhawan [Source: @DS24IN/x]Shikhar Dhawan [Source: @DS24IN/x]

It took a while for the world to fully embrace Shikhar Dhawan as an international force, despite his standout exploits at the 2004 ICC Under-19 World Cup where he finished as the tournament’s leading run-getter. Even though he finished the 2004 Under-19 World Cup with 505 runs, a semifinal medal and a ‘Player of the Tournament’ award, the blistering left-hander had to wait over nine years to receive his first Test cap.

And when that opportunity finally arrived in March 2013, he seized it with emphatic authority. Stepping into the shoes of Virender Sehwag as India’s new Test opener against Australia in the third match of the 2013 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, Shikhar Dhawan went ballistic with an epic 187 from just 174 balls, thus recording one of the highest individual scores on debut in Test history.

When Shikhar Dhawan smeared an 85-ball ton on debut

Shikhar Dhawan, at the age of 27, received his first Test cap during the third Test of the 2013 Border-Gavaskar Trophy home series against Australia in Mohali, doing so as a replacement of Virender Sehwag and under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Up against Australia’s 408, the opening pair of Dhawan and Murali Vijay wiped out 289 of those runs on their own in less than 60 overs, with the former blasting his way to an epic 187 from 174 balls with 33 electrifying boundaries and two huge sixes.

Shikhar Dhawan raced to his century from just 85 balls to record the fastest debut century in the history of Test cricket, and scored most runs by any Indian batter in their first Test outing.

The innings also set the tone for India’s dominance in the match, gaining a huge 91-run lead before Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja skittled Australia for just 223 in their second innings.

Team India chased down 133 on the last day with four overs remaining to secure an emphatic six-wicket win and take a 3-0 lead in the series.

For his explosive 187, Shikhar Dhawan was unsurprisingly declared the ‘Player of the Match’.