'Me and MS Dhoni were dismissed for a duck'- Shikhar Dhawan recalls how Suresh Raina motivated him after his poor debut match against Australia

India's veteran left-handed batter Shikhar Dhawan is no longer in India's scheme of things because of his inconsistent performance in international cricket. And now his comeback has become more difficult as the youngsters are performing really well in every format.

Dhawan, recently, reflected on his recollections of making his national team debut, noting similarities to his debut with Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. He said that he was hoping to smash a hundred but ended up losing his wicket without even scoring a single run.

“It is always a dream to play for India as a young cricketer. And I couldn't sleep at all that night. I woke up in the morning and saw it was raining and later the match was called off. In the second match, it was in city of destiny which is Visakhapatnam. I made my debut. We fielded first and I was stationed at slip, then mid-off and probably everywhere. When my batting came, I was bowled in the second over itself. I was smiling on my way back to the pavilion thinking 'I thought of scoring a 100 and ended up with 0'.” Dhawan said on AajTak.

Dhawan will be in action in the upcoming 16th edition of the Indian T20 League starting on March 31. He will be seen leading the Punjab-based franchise and will try to lead the team to their first-ever title win. Dhawan also recalled what happened after going back to the pavilion for a duck. He said that Raina, who was a senior player then motivated him, and said he and MS Dhoni were also dismissed on 0.

“Suresh Raina was there in the pavilion. He was a senior player then. He told me, 'Even I was dismissed for zero. MS Dhoni was also dismissed for zero. It is a lucky zero.' Then I started smiling again. But then I kept thinking when will I get my next opportunity because back in those days Sehwag and Gambhir were in their prime,” he said.