'Gabbar' Shikhar Dhawan Reminds Everyone Of His Love Affair With The Oval

Shikhar Dhawan’s love story with The Oval in London continued on Sunday as he starred for India in their impressive 36-run win over defending champions Australia in the World Cup. The left-handed batsman scored his third century at the London-based ground to guide India to a mammoth total of 352 for 5.

Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first turned out to be spot on. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started cautiously before shifting gears. The two added 127 runs for the first wicket before Nathan Coulter-Nile dismissed Rohit to give Australia the much-needed breakthrough. It, however, did not bring any respite for Australia as Indian batsmen continued to make merry on a good batting surface.

Today's Player of the Match is Shikhar Dhawan for his magnificent 117 off 109 balls, hitting 16×4!#TeamIndia #INDvAUS #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/auEziC5Ill

— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 9, 2019

Also Read: Virat Kohli Apologises To Steve Smith On Behalf Of Indian Fans

Dhawan scored 117 while Kohli scored 82. Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni and KL Rahul’s cameos then helped India post a big total in front of a boisterous crowd.  Australia, facing what would be a World Cup record chase, struggled to accelerate early on and eventually paid the price for it. Steve Smith, David Warner and Alex Carey scored fifties but Australia only managed 316. For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah picked up three wickets each.

And as soon as the game ended, Shikhar Dhawan took to Twitter to remind everyone of his love affair with The Oval. Dhawan’s five innings at the Oval have been 102*, 125, 78, 21 and 117, totalling 443 runs at an average of 110.75. He is also now the first batsman ever to score three centuries in ICC events at the same venue.

Also Read: A Top, Top Win For us, Says Virat Kohli After Victory Over Australia

Taking an inspiration from the famous dialogue of Bollywood movie Sholay, the Gabbar of the Indian team tweeted:

“Saara Oval muje गब्बर ke naam se jaanta hai. ?”

Saara Oval muje गब्बर ke naam se jaanta hai. ? pic.twitter.com/EEkyrSVeIB

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) June 9, 2019

Dhawan, nonetheless, also reminded one and all of the team’s strength as he expressed his delight over winning the Man of the Match.

“We are happy with the result as it was a great team effort. It’s a great sign for our team and I’m happy with this man of the match award. Very happy with the performance overall. We are a great fielding side, we took great catches. We have a good bowling side, great spinners as well,” Dhawan said at the post-match presentation.

Also Read: ICC World Cup 2019: Watch – Virat Kohli Epic Reaction After MS Dhoni’s Big Six