Former Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has shared a personal story from the early days of his career in his autobiography, revealing details of a relationship he developed during the 2006 India A tour to Australia. In the book, Dhawan recounted how he secretly brought his girlfriend into the hotel room he was sharing with teammate Rohit Sharma, and how word of their relationship eventually spread through the team.During the tour, Dhawan met a woman with whom he quickly formed a strong bond, believing she might be his life partner.“She was very beautiful, and suddenly I was in love again! I thought to myself, ‘She is the one for me, and I am going to marry her,” Dhawan wrote in his autobiography.The tour began well for Dhawan, with a solid start on the field, but he admitted that his focus shifted as he spent more time with his girlfriend, whom he refers to as Ellen (not her real name).“I started with a half-century in a practice game, and my tour was progressing well. After every game, I would go over to meet up with Ellen (not her real name) and I soon started smuggling her into my hotel room which I was sharing with Rohit Sharma. Now and then, he would complain in Hindi. ‘Will you let me sleep?'”
Their relationship became widely known within the squad after a senior national selector spotted the two together.“One evening, when I headed for dinner with Ellen, news of her presence spread like wildfire throughout the entire squad. A senior national selector, who was on tour with us, spotted us walking in the lobby with our hands linked. It didn’t even occur to me that I should let go of her hand, because to me, we were committing no crime. There was a good chance that if I had performed consistently on that Australia tour, I would have made it to the senior Indian side, but my performance kept dipping.“
Despite the distraction during that tour, Dhawan went on to enjoy a distinguished international career, representing India in 34 Tests, 167 One Day Internationals, and 68 T20 Internationals.In ODIs, he scored 6793 runs at an average of 44.11, including 17 centuries and 39 fifties. In Test cricket, he amassed 2315 runs at an average of 40.61, which included 7 centuries and 5 half-centuries.
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