Shikhar Dhawan, born on December 5, 1985 in Visakhapatnam, is an Indian cricketer who plays as a left-handed opening batsman. He captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and represents Delhi in domestic cricket.

Dhawan's first major achievement came at the 2004 U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, where he ended as the tournament's highest scorer. He was duly named Player of the Tournament. At age 15, Dhawan earned a call-up to the Delhi U-19 team for the 2001-02 Cooch Behar Trophy.

Dhawan made his international debut for India in an ODI against Australia in October 2010 in Visakhapatnam. His Test debut came over two years later against the same opposition in March 2013 at Mohali, where he had scored the fastest century on Test debut, blasting 187 off just 174 balls. This broke the long-standing record previously held by Gundappa Viswanath.

In the 2013 Champions Trophy in England, Dhawan was the leading run-scorer. He was awarded the Golden Bat for most runs and named Player of the Tournament as India won the title.

At the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Dhawan topped the run charts for India. In 2017, he repeated his Champions Trophy heroics, again finishing as the leading scorerto claim a second successive Golden Bat award.

In August 2013, he blasted 248 off just 150 balls for India A against South Africa A, at the time the second-highest individual score in a List A game. During the 4th ODI against South Africa in early 2018 in Johannesburg, he became the first Indian and ninth overall batsman to score a century in his 100th ODI. Later that year against Afghanistan in a Test match, he became the sixth player and first Indian to score a century before lunch on the opening day.

In the IPL while playing for Delhi Capitals, Dhawan was the first batsman to score back-to-back centuries in the tournament's history.

On the domestic circuit, Dhawan has been a high run-scorer for Delhi and North Zone since his youth days. He was the leading run-getter in the 2000-01 Vijay Merchant Trophy .

Dhawan's prolific domestic form finally earned him an India call-up in 2010 at age 24 for the ODI series against Australia. His Test debut came later in 2013 against the same opponents in Mohali. Drafted in as a replacement for out-of-form Virender Sehwag, Dhawan scored 187 off 174 balls after being handed his Test cap by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. His  innings set several records and was named the Best Test Batting Performance of 2013 by ESPNcricinfo.

Though he missed the next Test due to a fractured hand sustained while fielding, Dhawan quickly returned to action in the 2013 IPL, scoring 311 runs in 10 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad. His form helped him earn selection for India's 2013 Champions Trophy campaign in England.

Opening the batting he struck a maiden ODI hundred of 114 off 94 balls in the very first game against South Africa. In the next match versus West Indies, he remained unbeaten on 102 off 107 deliveries. His tally of 363 runs from just five innings at 90.75 saw him claim the Golden Bat for most runs as well as the Player of the Tournament award.