There's more to Shikhar Dhawan than meets the eye

The story could have been a very different one.

At the start of Shikhar Dhawan's famous Test debut against Australia in 2013, Mitchell Starc had lost the ball during his run-up and inadvertently disturbed the stumps at the non-striker's end. Dhawan had already left his crease and if there had been an appeal (Starc just picked up the ball, smiled and returned to the top of his run-up) and if the umpire had deemed the effort intentional, Dhawan would have been Mankaded for a diamond duck on Test debut.

'Spirit of Cricket' prevailed. Dhawan survived. Dhawan batted. And records tumbled.

187 runs were scored at a blitzkrieg pace, and Shikhar Dhawan had announced himself to the world. An opener from Delhi with a penchant for destruction and a disregard for reputation. Everyone, barring the Australians that day, was excited.

***

During the recently-concluded Indian Premier League, one that Shikhar Dhawan's team finished as champions, I spoke to the left-hander about how it is like to be him. Over the conversation, I spoke to a man who was, to put it bluntly, just plain happy. A man who was grateful for the chance he got to do what he was doing. A man who loved what he was doing. A doting father. A loving husband. A prankster. An average comedian. A team man. A swashbuckling batsman. A sufi lover. A willing learner. I was talking to a man who was an intimate portrait of one who longs to be normal.

Dhawan is an opinion divider. Views about his spot and impact in the Indian side are still discordant.

He is easily pigeonholed as the typical Delhiite. Tattoos, a moustache he loves to twirl, bulging muscles that are barely concealed underneath a tight-fitting shirt, a booming voice and the tendency to crack silly jokes. All this, but with precocious talent. Others just see him as a player for whom the drop can't come quicker. A non-performer outside Asia. A flat-track bully. A man with the knack to score big just when the axe is about to fall.

But he continues to be a constant figure for the Indian team across all formats, in each as its specialist opener. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, David Warner, Tom Moody, Ravi Shastri have all been effusive in their praise about Dhawan and what he can do when his batting comes off.

He knows why there is so much faith. He knows he is a match-winner.

"They say that I take more risk in my batting, and they see me as a match-winner for the team. That was one of the big reasons that they had a lot of patience towards me. They knew I can win matches for the side. I could play impact innings for the side.

"I really don't focus on what people say. With time, I have realized that it doesn't matter what people say out there. As I said, if I had those many failures, then how can I still average 43 and how did I become the fastest to 3000 runs. That's how I personally feel.

"I also know that once I'm set, I can play the impact innings for my side. That's what happened in the 2015 World Cup. Before that, I wasn't doing that great, but once the World Cup came, I started off with a bang and I started being consistent. And it went well for me."

While Dhawan is not dividing opinions with his performances on the cricket field, he is at home with his wife Ayesha and their three children - Rhea, Aliyah and Zoravar. "After marriage, my life has totally changed," he said.

Dhawan met Ayesha Mukherji, who was an amateur boxer, on Facebook after Harbhajan Singh had played cupid. Mukherji had two daughters from her previous marriage. She and Dhawan got married in 2012 and soon Zoraver was born.

After his debut hundred against Australia, Dhawan was quick to dedicate the knock to his wife and kids. A gesture that had, as his wife admitted, left her overwhelmed. Even during the biggest moment of his cricketing life, Dhawan had amply displayed what truly was in his heart.

When his tour to Sri Lanka was cut short due to a broken finger, Dhawan rushed to Melbourne, Australia to be with his wife and kids. Australia, Dhawan felt, lets him get back to a normal way of life.

Being a cricketer in India has its ups and downs. While the adulation and fan-following is matchless, the lack of privacy and constant bombardment of fans for autographs and selfies can get to you. In June 2015, Dhawan tweeted a picture of him in an autorickshaw on the streets of Bengaluru. "Flying like a Ferrari. After years, maza aagaya (had fun)," he had tweeted. A part of everyday routine that most look at with not so much enthusiasm had Dhawan having the time of his life. It showed just how much he missed being normal.

Abroad, you are allowed a much more peaceful life.

In Australia, Dhawan can play the dad to perfection, and distance himself from the frenzy that prevails in India, should he step out in the open. He takes his daughters to school everyday and picks them back up when they're done. He goes on long walks with his wife and young son. The entire family enjoys the occasional movie night, and there is a lot of sports thrown in in between.

"I've been to parent-teachers' meetings, too," he laughs. "I take them to whatever activities they like, I try to be a part of it. Whatever they demand, basically."

Family figures quite highly in Dhawan's list of priorities.

***

In 2005, Dhoni and Dhawan opened the batting for India Seniors in the Challenger Series game in Mumbai. Dhoni slammed 102 off 96 balls, while Dhawan did slightly better with 126 off 124 balls.

The call-up to the India squad was handed to Dhoni. India needed a solid wicketkeeper who could take to the big hits when needed, and Dhoni looked perfect for the slot. Dhawan, on the other hand, had no such opening. Indian cricket boasted of the best-ever ODI opening pair in the history of the game, and there were numerous players, more experienced than Dhawan, waiting for a chance.

By the time Dhawan made his international debut, the calender had flipped to 2010. Dhoni had graduated to being the captain of the Indian team across all formats.

Dhawan's ODI debut was a horror show; he was out bowled for a two-ball duck. Dhawan, however, wore no remorse when making the walk back to the pavilion. He admitted years later, that he even allowed himself a smile despite the bad debut, knowing that the record of scoring a duck on debut is a rare one.

Everything about Dhawan oozes of this easy-going attitude. It's something that has been with him since he was a youngster.

***

Gabbar Singh is the antagonist of the 1975 hit film Sholay. Amjad Khan plays the role of a merciless bandit leader who spreads terror in Ramgarh - a character that has lived through eras of Indian cinema as one of its finest. Gabbar also happens to be the monicker given to Dhawan.

During a Ranji Trophy game, Delhi were on the field for a long time and were under the pump. Fielding at short-leg and irritated by his team not getting a breakthrough, Dhawan took off his helmet and in 'Gabbar Singh style' screamed "Suar ke bachon... wicket kab aayega?" (Sons of pigs, when will we get a wicket?!). And thus stuck the Gabbar Singh nickname.

But the only thing merciless about this Gabbar is his run-scoring ability when he's in full flow. For long periods during his relatively brief international cricket, though, he has not been in full flow. It's something he in enured to now, taking his failings more as learnings rather than him being out of form.

After a short run of ODIs and the lone T20I at the start of his career, during which he made just one fifty and five scores below 12, he was dropped from the side. His wait for a return was a long, and at times, hurtful.

"I played for India A for five-six years. I used to go to Australia to play, I was the highest run-getter there, I scored lots of runs. I never felt frustrated, but of course, when the Indian team selection happened, I used to think 'my name will appear'. When it didn't come, I used to feel hurt, for maybe one day or something, then I used to move on," he said.

Soon after being dropped from the limited-overs side, Dhawan went back to first-class cricket and scored big. He played the Irani Cup soon after and slammed two hundreds in as many innings, both scored at quicker than run-a-ball.

"That was a good thing, I knew I had to move on quickly. I was happy playing Ranji Trophy also. I always used to look to go forward in my life. I never used to feel sad about missing out on Indian team. My attitude wasn't that. I was just happy playing Ranji Trophy, but obviously I wanted to go to the next level. So that positivity got me going. And because of the positivity, I got a break into the side."

In the 2012-13 season, Dhawan stayed in the limelight. He scored 461 runs at an average of over fifty. He was drawing closer to an India return.

"See, it's a race which never ends. So I knew that. Those who are playing at the moment, it's a race, one day I can also play. That happened and I'm thankful to god," he added.

Poor form was resulting in the end of the race for a certain Virender Sehwag. When the right-hander was dropped for the Test series against Australia at home, Dhawan stepped in. It's a call, he said, he never expected. He was playing for Rest of India against Mumbai in Mumbai at that time, and had just fallen for a duck. That was another chance fluffed, he felt.

"I had thought, 'Oh man! I lost the chance. So close.' The Indian team was going to be announced soon and I thought I missed it again. I got out on zero. Then I was on the field, and I got a pat from someone saying my name was announced. I said, 'Seriously?'"

***

A young Dhawan was the bane of his neighbours and had a certain like or dislike, depending on how you look at it, for letters and letter boxes. As a kid, Dhawan used to steal letters from wherever he could find and dump them in the drainage. During Diwali, he went one step further, and put in a firecracker in the letterboxes and watch the explosion from a safe distance. As he puts it, "that's how Punjabi kids grow up."

"I used to get a lot of beatings from everyone," he said. "I was a very naughty kid. I always used to be at the ground, so my dad used to tell me that I don't pay too much attention to my studies and scolded me for that. Somehow, I never understood studies that well. Trying new things, like try cycles on a slide, I used to do all the mad stuff."

Dhawan was born in Delhi to Mahendra Pal Dhawan and Sunaina Dhawan in 1985. He is a Punjabi Jatt. He was a lover of sports from very young - playing football, cricket, badminton, table tennis and everything he had the chance to play. Watching his cousin play cricket at the Sonnet Club, Dhawan was drawn towards the sport, and when his school, St. Marks Senior Secondary Public School, asked him to choose between cricket and football, because he was good at both and needed to focus on one, he picked the former.

To his neighbours' relief, his focus soon moved from 'mad stuff' to cricket.

"I feel that my love towards cricket was more and that influenced the decision. I always believed that whatever you want to do in life, you should love doing that. That is the main thing," he said.

"But when cricket came along, I became more focused. I was a good student. I always used to work hard. Then I got more serious."

Dhawan was enrolled at the Sonnet Club under the tutelage of Tarak Sinha. He would never miss a session, even forgoing tempting family vacations away from the searing Delhi heat to stay back and train multiple hours a day. "It was never because somebody told me to do it, it was always inside me."

The hard work paid off and Dhawan was picked in the Under-16 Delhi side in 1999. He got just one game, and scored a total of 11 runs. The year after, Dhawan came back stronger and hungrier. He finished with 755 runs and was rewarded with a call-up to the India Under-17 side.

And so it began.

***

"I didn't even know that I had scored the fastest century till I came out. When I was in the flow, I realised that I cannot stop myself. I wanted to slow down, but I couldn't."

In Mohali, Dhawan received his Test cap from, arguably, the greatest of all time. Sachin Tendulkar handed the cap to the left-hander and is said to have told him, "We know you are a gutsy player. Now, go out there, and show some guts."

He went and smacked 187 record-breaking runs, smashing the Australians to smithereens in the process. It's a knock that Dhawan feels was a God-send. He had played domestic cricket for nearly a decade prior to his Test debut, and the knock had ensured he had become a big part of the team from the outset.

"When I went into the side, the good thing was that I was playing domestic cricket for so long, I already knew all the players. It wasn't the story with me that I was very uncomfortable there. I was the way I was. I didn't have to groom myself as anyone (else) out there. I was open out there, and continued as a fun-loving person. I was enjoying cracking jokes with them from day one. I knew all of them."

He suffered a fractured finger and went on to miss the next Test. His next outing for India was in England in the Champions Trophy. Two more hundreds followed. He slapped his thigh and twirled his moustache in celebration. He scored more runs than anybody else in the tournament, and was named Man of the Tournament. Dhawan had arrived.

"I felt that I had come big in international cricket. It felt good and I wanted to do better. Things were going very good for me. We won the Champions Trophy and we won the tri-series, our ODI record was very good. The transition period when I came in, when Ajinkya [Rahane] came in, and Rohit Sharma started opening, we all went through the transition period quickly. We built up a very strong side."

***

Dhawan had a stellar Under-19 World Cup in 2004. It was a squad that also had the likes of Dinesh Karthik and RP Singh among others. The left-hander smashed 505 runs, a record that still stands for most runs in an Under-19 World Cup, and people started noticing Dhawan.

"It was the biggest thing back then, to play in the Under-19 World Cup," Dhawan said. "I did really well, I still hold the record and nobody has broken it. I still feel really good about it. I scored three hundreds and I think I scored 500-odd runs over there. That was a big achievement for me and because of that I got to play Ranji Trophy straightaway. Otherwise, it wasn't very easy to get into the side (Delhi Ranji team). And because of the Under-19 World Cup, I got into the Ranji Trophy side next year."

He made his debut against Andhra Pradesh in the 2004-05 season. He scored 49 runs at a quick pace in his first game. When he got out, at the other end, Akash Chopra was batting on four. Dhawan's aggressive batsmanship had everyone excited, and he was earmarked for big things. Although never too pleasing on the eye, he had a way of demolishing attacks in his own style. The call-up to the India side, however, still remained elusive.

It was not something that bothered the batsman. He knew he belonged here.

"Once I played Ranji, I never thought cricket was not my thing, or I cannot play for India. In my head, when Viru bhai and Gautam bhai were at their peak, it's their time, and my time will come. I used to enjoy my fitness. I used to get a lot of happiness from doing my fitness and playing cricket and it didn't matter to me. It wasn't like if I haven't played for India, I hadn't achieved anything. Still I was achieving a lot playing where I was. I was happy with the achievements."

"Rather than cribbing in life that I didn't get this or that. I don't believe in cribbing, with cribbing you don't achieve anything. I feel that cricket is a big thing in life, but at the same time, I take care of my responsibility of my happiness separately. My happiness is not only based on cricket, it's based on family and many other things," he said.

The attitude to take things as they come stems from his family. Dhawan's parents have always been pillars of support for him. They used to tell him he was a gifted person because he was already playing Ranji cricket. For so many it would be a dream to get even that far.

"I guess, it's from my family. Whenever something happened, or if things didn't go my way, my parents tell me that, don't worry, that's alright, if not this, something better will happen. That's how I grew up, and I always used to think that way," Dhawan added.

***

"I'm quite patient, so even when things don't go well, I don't go very up and down emotionally."

With rising success, came precipitous falls. Soon after, almost every Dhawan appearance came concatenated with questions about his place in the side. He was suddenly having as many lean patches as the good ones.

"Sometimes you go through a phase when things don't go your way. When I tried new things, even those didn't work. I made my return from my lean patch. Then again, there was another lean patch. In these three years, I have seen good things, bad things. It was important for me to go through all of them.

"Even when people talk that I had a lot of lean patches, how I see that is despite having so many lean patches, I still have so many records and my numbers are still good. I'm more mature as a person, more mature as a sportsman. That time has made me better. In my second phase now, I've seen everything and I know what suits me the best."

Dhawan has tried to alter his back-lift and his stance over time, but the changes are something "that a normal person can't see." Just before the West Indies series, Dhawan was in Bengaluru working on his back-lift, and what he called the basic structure of his technique. To a group of journalists sitting right behind the nets, he wasn't scared to admit that he was working on the basics again - basics of leaving the ball.

It's something Dhawan has become comfortable with. To try and dabble a bit with his technique to ensure he is in the right space at the right time. "Even now, after going through so many patches, I've realised what kind of strategy works the best for me. That's how I learnt."

Despite the pressure to perform on the field, Dhawan stays the way he is inside the dressing room. He loves making people laugh, even if that comes as a result of him making fun of himself. "I always like to make people laugh. I make myself the joke too. That's the kind of the energy I carry.

"When I was going through a bad run, I went quiet and all. I decided that I'm not going to laugh that much, but the change had an effect on the side. It's not fair on the team that when I'm doing well then I'll be happy and then when I'm in bad form, I'll be quiet. I am the way I am whether I'm doing well on the field or not," he added.

***

In Bengaluru, Dhawan was addressing a group of journalists. When one of them asked him what the difference between Murali Vijay's and Virender Sehwag's batting was, we expected an answer about calmness and aggressive batting, about technique and hand-eye co-ordination, about how both were great cricketers and friends.

Dhawan pushed back, and with a straight face said "Their face." It was a poor joke but it still made us chuckle, but Dhawan didn't care. That's the sort of person he is.

Players come into national sides dreaming of big things - to cement a spot; to captain the side; to be the best in the world; to take the world and the outer world, by storm. But Dhawan has a very straightforward goal.

"My happiness is not only based on cricket, it's based on family and many other things. It's not like if I'm not playing, I'll be sad. I'm happy having a great life with my family or my teammates, whoever I'm playing for. I always believe in that."

So what is the goal for the upcoming season?

"Be happy and enjoy each and every moment of my life."