Shikhar Dhawan announces Test arrival with fastest ton on debut

When Virender Sehwag was dropped from the Indian team a week ago, many eyebrows were raised. And today when Murli Vijay walked out to open the Indian innings with debutant Shikhar Dhawan almost everyone was waiting to see what Dhawan would do. The shoes of Sehwag were mighty to fill as he has scored a lot of runs and has the records to prove it.

Shikhar Dhawan who also hails from Delhi it seems took a note out of Sehwag's book as he slammed a century to score the fastest century on debut. Dhawan scored his century in 85 balls and had the Mohali crowd on their feet cheering his feat.

Dhawan was born on December 5, 1985 in Delhi and is a left-handed opening batsman who can also be a handy right-arm offbreak bowler. He represents Delhi in domestic cricket and played for the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhawan made his international debut against Australia in 2010 in the Visakhapatnam ODI where several senior players were rested. He opened the innings in the run-chase. He did not score from the first ball and was bowled off the next by Clint McKay.

The Delhi boy played for India in the 2004 U-19 Cricket World Cup and was the leading run scorer in the tournament. His 505 runs from seven innings is a record in a single U-19 World Cup. He scored at an average of 84.16 with three centuries and was named the Player of the Tournament.

This successful run continued when Dhawan made his Ranji debut for Delhi in 2004–05, as he finished as the team's leading run-scorer with 461 runs. He consistently performer for his state side. He played a pivotal role in Delhi's Ranji title win in 2007–08, scoring 570 runs in eight games.

Dhawan made his T20 debut against West Indies in 2011. He opened along with debutant wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel in which he scored 5 of 11 deliveries faced before being caught behind to keeper Andre Fletcher off Darren Sammy.

In the 1st ODI of the tour, with India needing 215 to win, he scored a 51 before falling to Anthony Martin. It was his maiden ODI fifty.

In the first season of the IPL, Dhawan played for the Delhi Daredevils and made four half centuries. He was also the third highest scorer of the team. He was traded to the Mumbai Indians in exchange for Ashish Nehra. He has played for the Mumbai Indians in the second and third season of the IPL. For the fourth season he was bought by the Deccan Chargers.

With his Test debut, today Dhawan has shown selectors that he is a capable player and his record performance is testimony that is making the most of this opportunity he has received to represent India in Test cricket.