Shikhar Dhawan was awarded the golden bat for his brilliant run in the tournament. (Source: AP)
Shikhar Dhawan’s dazzling run of form in the Champions Trophy where he scored 338 runs bagged him the golden bat award at the end of the tournament. Incidentally, last season he was also rewarded with the man of the series award. Dhawan is also the highest run-getter for India in the tournament’s history. He did so when he went past the tally of former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly.
In the previous edition, Dhawan was the top scorer as well as he led his side to the title win. This time around the story was not the same as India fell short in the last lap and the lost the finals to Pakistan. However, Dhawan had a memorable outing as he also broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record of being the fastest to reach 1, 000 runs in ICC one-day international events. While Sachin took 18 innings to reach the milestone Dhawan did it in just 16.
In this edition of the tournament, Dhawan scored 338 runs at an average of 79.25 and a strike rate of 102.26. He also hit 40 fours and four sixes. This is the testament of his domination on the 22 yards. His highest score was 125 where he plundered the Sri Lankan attack to all parts of the ground. In that innings, he cut, drove and pulled with panache as the Sri Lankan bowlers looked hapless.
In fact against most of his opposition, Dhawan batted with authority. His presence in the top order has been crucial for India’s success and this can be vouched for from the statistic that every time Dhawan scores more than 80 India has a success ratio of more than fifty percent. His average also increases significantly in major ODI tournaments where it rises from 44. 36 (career avg) to 69.14. Team India will hope that Dhawan continues his good form and replicate his performance in the next major event.