Dhawan made his ODI – and international debut in October 2010, against a visiting Australian side. India had secured a 2-0 Test series win earlier that month and a 24-year-old Dhawan was called up for the three ODIs that followed.

The start was inauspicious. The first and third matches in Kochi and Margao were washed out without so much as a toss, and Dhawan made a two-ball duck on debut in Visakhapatnam. But over the next twelve years, the southpaw went on to cement himself as India's first-choice opener in the format, and possibly an all-time great.

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In terms of ODI runs scored, Dhawan sits in the 15th spot among openers, between David Warner and Martin Guptill, with 6,793 to his name in 166 matches. Fifteenth may not sound all that impressive, but consider this; only eight of those above him can boast an average of 40 or more, and only two have scored at a strike rate of 90 or more to go with it.

Dhawan lays claim to both of these. In fact, he is one of only four players to accumulate over 6000 ODI runs with the aforementioned figures. As an aside, Dhawan was also the fifth-fastest to 6000 runs in ODI history.

What makes Shikhar Dhawan unique?

The reason this record is significant, is that there have been very few batters in ODI cricket who have combined all of the following three; volume of runs, speed of runs and career longevity.

There are openers before and after Dhawan who average above 40, many after Dhawan who strike at a rate of 90 or more but almost none have been able to combine the two, over a period of more than a decade. Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock and David Warner are perhaps closest among Dhawan's contemporaries.

It would be unfair to not discuss openers who came before him. Notable players to accumulate runs at a solid clip (for their era) over a reasonably long period of time include Sachin Tendulkar, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag. Still, the list is quite small, and the collection of names here also serves to illustrate the rarefied air Dhawan occupies.

His legacy among Indian fans is also boosted by fond memories of his performances in tournament cricket. Out of the six multi-team tournaments Dhawan played in the ODI format, he averaged under 50 in just one – the 2014 Asia Cup, where he averaged 48.

His 2013 Champions Trophy campaign formed the backbone of an Indian victory, with 363 runs in five matches at an average of 91 and strike rate of 101. Four years later in the same competition, he registered 338 runs in five matches as India made it to, but lost, the final.

Dhawan's numbers in ODI cricket also hold up fairly well across conditions. He averaged 60 with a strike rate of 98 across 22 innings in England, one of the tougher locations for subcontinental openers. Dhawan also managed to average 50 in South Africa with a healthy strike rate. Only 12 openers in ODI history not from these two countries have ever managed to score 1000 runs across both locations. None of them can match Dhawan's average of nearly 57, and only Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman comes close to his strike rate of 97.

The solitary blip in this respect is perhaps his record in the West Indies. The Caribbean region is not known for being particularly harsh on openers, but Dhawan's 19 innings there yielded just 571 runs, at a strike rate of 80. It would still be an unfair stick to beat him with, as any player's record can be poked and prodded until it looks sub-standard.

Dhawan's influence on Rohit Sharma

While his personal record remains excellent, Dhawan has an added feather in his cap. For much of the last decade, he formed a barnstorming opening partnership with current India captain Rohit Sharma. Only two pairs in Indian ODI history, Ganguly-Tendulkar and Kohli-Rohit, amassed more runs than them and Sehwag-Tendulkar was the only pair that scored more quickly over a similar period of time. 

Rohit is now widely acknowledged as one of ODI cricket's greatest-ever batters, but many of his achievements would not have been as easy to complete without Dhawan as his batting partner in the earlier days of his career.

Rohit's template for the 2010s remained largely the same – he would take 10-15 overs to settle himself, before capitalising in extreme fashion past the 25- or 30-over mark.

Dhawan's ability to score relatively quickly at the start, thereby making use of the Powerplay on most occasions proved invaluable in ensuring Rohit himself was not pressured to take risks far earlier than he was comfortable doing, thereby enabling him to build an innings and cash in later on.

This template was helped by the fact that despite scoring significantly quicker at the start, Dhawan was not a player who would slow down afterwards. Instead, if both players were set, they could cause double the destruction. In addition, the right-left combination meant they were constantly forcing bowlers to change their lines, not allowing them to settle.

Providing a definitive ranking of Dhawan the ODI opener is difficult, and much of it comes down to personal preference. There are players with more runs, there are players who scored quicker, and there are players who played longer than him.

But essentially, Shikhar Dhawan gave India an opening batter for close to a decade, who could stick around for close to 20 overs to score 45 off 50 on an average day, never mind his best. In any world, any team would bite your hand off for such a player. Beyond that, whether he makes your top five or top ten or top fifteen is immaterial.  

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