Mumbai: One of India’s prolific opening batter Shikhar Dhawan, popularly known as ‘Gabbar’ among cricketing fraternity, announced his retirement from international cricket on Saturday.

Though Shikhar would not be seen donning the Indian’s colours anymore, he is expected to continue playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The 38-year-old southpaw, who was last seen playing for India in 2022 against Bangladesh, has scored a total of 6,793 runs from 167 ODI matches with 17 centuries. He also scored seven Test centuries and 11 half centuries in T20Is.

Announcing his retirement in a video posted in his Facebook page, Dhawan said, “I always had one goal in mind that was to play for India and I achieved it, thanks to a lot of people. First of all, my family, my childhood coach Tarak Sinha and Madan Sharma, under their guidance, I learnt cricket. Then my entire team with whom I played for years, got another family, fame and everyone’s love and support. As it’s said that to move ahead in the story you need to flip over the pages. Hence, I’m also doing that, I’m announcing my retirement from international and domestic cricket.”

“And now when I’m bidding adieu to my cricketing journey, I have the satisfaction that I played a lot for my country. I’m really thankful to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and DDCA (Delhi & District Cricket Association) for giving me this opportunity and all of my fans for their love and support. I just say this to myself that don’t be sad that you won’t play for your country again but always be happy that you played for your country. And it’s the biggest achievement for me that I played,” he added.