“Rolling the pitch, bringing tea for the coaches” - Shikhar Dhawan’s stunning revelation of his younger years

Former India cricketer Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in August 2024. The prolific left-hander, in a video shared by his foundation, the Shikhar Dhawan Foundation, on Instagram, opened up about his experiences from his early days in cricket.

During the conversation with children from underprivileged backgrounds, Shikhar Dhawan recalled how he had started playing club cricket at a young age. He added he had to wait for a year to get an opportunity to play in a tournament.

Talking about his struggle during his initial years, the former opener recalled:

"I started playing at a young age for a club, practiced for a year, and got to play a tournament after a year. For a year I used to perform various chores, like rolling the pitch, bringing tea for the coaches, and enduring long hours under the sun, all in the hopes of getting just 10 minutes to bat at the end of the day."

Shikhar Dhawan made his international debut for India in 2010 against Australia at Visakhapatnam.

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Shikhar Dhawan's impressive international career

The left-hander began his international career with his ODI debut against Australia in 2010. He finished among the great performers for India in the format, scoring 6793 runs from 167 matches at an average of 44.11, with 17 hundreds and 39 fifties.

Shikhar Dhawan played a massive role in India's triumph at the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He was the leading run-getter of the tournament, with 363 runs from five innings at an average of 90.75.

The southpaw also played 34 Tests for India, making his debut against Australia in 2013. He scored 2315 runs at an average of 40.61, with seven hundreds and five half-centuries in the format. Dhawan also played 68 T20Is, scoring 1759 runs with 11 fifties.

His last international match for India came against Bangladesh in an ODI in 2022. After being away from the side for a long time, he eventually announced his retirement in 2024.