Veteran Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket a few days ago. The left-handed batter was away from the field from a long time and couldn’t find his place in the Indian squad for the last couple of years. However, the former cricketer will now be seen playing in the Legends League Cricket .
Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar revealed the reason why Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement and reflected on the challenges that the opening batter has to face in the later stages of his career. Gavaskar said that Dhawan is a great talent and his retirement is going to leave the ‘sport poorer.’
“Shikhar Dhawan’s retirement from all forms of the game is going to leave the sport poorer than before. The ever-smiling, ever-positive Shikhar, also fondly called ‘Gabbar’, was a player of enormous talent,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.
Injuries were part of Shikhar’s career: Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar said that Shikhar Dhawan’s career has been filled with injuries that didn’t allow the left hander to play to his full potential in the last years of his career. Dhawan played his last international game for India in December 2022. He was also the skipper of Punjab Kings in IPL 2024 but couldn’t play half of the tournament due to injury.
“But as befalls opening batters, a lean series or tournament can mean the selectors wielding the axe. In later years, injuries were part of Shikhar’s career, which seldom allowed him to fully display his skill and probably helped him make the decision to quit the game while he was still enjoying being part of the circuit,” Gavaskar said.
