Watch: Shikhar Dhawan Misses Out On His 18th ODI Hundred

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan missed out on a golden opportunity to score his 18th One-day International hundred during the ongoing first match against England in Pune as he threw his wicket away in a rather soft manner for a 106-ball 98.

It all happened on the first ball of the 39th over when Shikhar Dhawan pulled a rather innocuous ball from all-rounder Ben Stokes.

The only issue was that he couldn’t get it past the midwicket fielder Eoin Morgan who made absolutely no mistake in completing a simple catch to land another blow on Team India.

Dhawan’s wicket came at a time when Team India was already grappling with back-to-back dismissals of skipper Virat Kohli (56) and Shreyas Iyer (6).

That said, it was an imperious inning by the Indian southpaw, who regained his form after having been dropped from the playing 11 following the first T20I where he struggled to a 12-ball 4.

It was a typical Shikhar Dhawan knock, laced with boundaries all around the ground. The southpaw got two lucky reprieves- a close LBW call off Adil Rashid and a dropped catch by Moeen Ali- but barring that, the stylish opener looked in absolute control throughout his knock.

He stitched 64 runs for the first wicket with Rohit Sharma before racking up a brilliant 105-run partnership with Virat Kohli in just 17 overs.

Post the dismissal of Shikhar, India lost the wicket of Hardik Pandya, but since then KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya have steadied the ship as India aims to get close to the 300-run mark.

Watch the dismissal here: