India vs Sri Lanka 1st ODI: Shikhar Dhawan can join elite list including Kohli, Dravid and Tendulkar with huge milestone
India vs Sri Lanka 1st ODI: Shikhar Dhawan has a chance to join an elite list including Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly by achieving a huge milestone.
The first ODI between India and Sri Lanka on Sunday, July 18, will be an important game for Shikhar Dhawan in numerous aspects. From a player's point of view, he will make his captaincy debut in the absence of Virat Kohli, who is currently with the men's senior team in Durham, preparing for a five-match Test series against England.
From a batsman's perspective, Delhi cricketer Dhawan would look to achieve a few milestones when he walks out to bat in Colombo. Dhawan needs 35 more runs to complete 10,000 International runs. If he does so, he will become the 14th Indian batsman to achieve the landmark.
FOLLOW LIVE BLOG: INDIA VS SRI LANKA 1ST ODI
Currently, Dhawan has scored 5977 runs in 142 ODIs at an average of 45.28, including 17 centuries and 32 fifties. He has also played 34 Tests so far, scoring 2315 runs at an average of 40.61. In T20Is, he has 1673 runs to his name in 65 games.
Should the swashbuckling left-hander get those 35 runs, he will become the sixth-fastest batsman to reach 10,000 international runs. The quickest was Kohli, who breached the mark in 232 innings. Second in the list is Sunil Gavaskar, having crossed the figure in 243 innings. Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid round up the top 5 with 253, 256, and 257 innings respectively.
Dhawan has played 260 innings. 35 runs in the first ODI would see him get to the mark in his 261st innings.
Meanwhile, he also has a chance to surpass Ganguly to achieve a huge milestone. Dhawan currently has 5,977 runs in the ODIs. If he manages to score 23 runs, he would reach the 6,000-run mark, becoming only the 10th Indian batsman to reach the milestone.
Dhawan would also become the 2nd quickest Indian to reach the feat, with Virat Kohli leading the charts in the list of fastest Indian batsman to reach 6,000 ODI runs. While Kohli achieved the feat in 136 innings, Dhawan would reach the mark in his 140th innings. It had taken Ganguly 147 to reach the same mark.
