Shikhar Dhawan on Saturday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, drawing curtains on a glorious career, which spanned for over a decade. In this, the left-handed batter served the nation in all three formats and featured in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, 68 T20Is. Despite being one of India’s mainstay, particularly in the 50-over format, his last ODI appearance was back in December 2022 against Bangladesh, in which he managed a paltry 3. During this phase the team witnessed the rise of several youngsters, and out of them was stylish opener batter Shubman Gill, who is touted as the next big talent from the country.
So with Dhawan falling behind the ladder, his position in India’s ODI setup, especially with the World Cup approaching, took a bit of dwindling. Amidst this Dhawan was asked about the same in an interview, during which he gave a blockbuster response to the reporter, attracting praises from every corner. The left-handed batter had then said that if he was the selector, he would have given Gill a chance ahead of him to represent the country in the showpiece event.
On Saturday, the day Dhawan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, during an interaction with Hindustan Times he was asked to share his thoughts on the response.
Here’s what the former cricketer had to say: “As I informed you that I have started focusing on spirituality, I realised there are many ways you can think about any particular situation. As you mentioned “competitor” I used to think exactly the same before, even when I was in the Indian team that this person is my competitor. There are 3-4 openers in the Indian team and only two can play, plus they are my friends. If I spend 200-250 days in a year with them, they sort of become family. In ODIs I was confident that my spot was fixed, but in Test there was KL Rahul, Murali Vijay.
“So what is the second stage when you’re competing with someone, comparison. You will compare yourself with others. You start thinking ‘he has ten tons, whereas I have five tons. God please keep blessing him but please bless me more.’ So this was a common thought, and when you reach comparison the end product is jealousy, which is unavoidable. I used to feel jealous, I won’t deny. But when I started listening to these spiritual talks, I learned that the focus should shift from competition to contribution.
“So I’m trying to give my best and have shifted my energy from competition. This increased my consistency, productivity. Also everything has a particular time, like today I felt that I should take rest from cricket. That time Shubman (Gill) was playing and when I was asked about it during an interview, I didn’t expect it and had to think deep before responding. That time Shubman was playing in two formats – T20 and Test – I was playing in one format. That guy was doing well in both formats, and he was in great form. He was scoring centuries then, while I was only being able to hit fifties. So apart from spirituality, these were other factors involved and this is the reason I gave the answer that Shubman should get a chance ahead of me.”
