Shikhar Dhawan, the former Indian cricket opener, shared a surprising story from his past in his memoir “The One: Cricket, My Life and More”. He talked about how, during a 2006 India A tour in Australia, he developed strong feelings for a girl. At that time, he was sharing a hotel room with teammate Rohit Sharma.
Shikhar Dhawan Met a Mysterious Woman During the 2006 Australia Tour
Shikhar Dhawan, who played over 200 matches for India, said he soon began secretly bringing the woman into his hotel room, even though it wasn’t allowed. Shikhar Dhawan revealed Rohit was aware of it, and their teammates started talking about the situation during the tour.
“Then came a tour to Australia with the India A squad in 2006. The moment I landed in Darwin, I noticed a beautiful woman in the immigration queue. She was a tall brunette with a blunt cut and sharp features. She looked divine. I looked at her and smiled; she smiled back. She wheeled her luggage trolley and walked over to the conveyor belt to collect her luggage. I did the same and stood next to her,” the excerpt reads, as per Sportstar.
“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 as quoted by Sportstar.
“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?’
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Shikhar Dhawan said he talked to the girl for a short time, and soon they exchanged phone numbers. He also mentioned that Robin Singh, who was the India A coach at the time, was friendly with him and didn’t have any issues with it.
“By the time our conversation was over, we had exchanged phone numbers and email IDs. Once I reached the hotel, I emailed her. She responded. I invited her to a party. She accepted, and I was on cloud nine. Robin Singh was the India A coach on that Australia tour, and I had often gone for parties with him in the past. We were more like friends than player and coach,” Shikhar Dhawan wrote.
Shikhar Dhawan Admits His Distractions Affected On-Field Performance
Shikhar Dhawan also honestly admitted that he was likely distracted during the Australia tour, which affected his performance.
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“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,” wrote Dhawan.
“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,” he added.
Dhawan played 167 ODIs, 68 T20Is, and 34 Test matches for India. He was most successful in ODIs, scoring 6,793 runs with an average of 44.11.
He was known for doing well in ICC tournaments, especially in the 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy. He started the 2019 ODI World Cup strongly but had to leave the tournament after getting injured in the match against Australia.
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