London, July 24 (IANS) Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has lavished praise on veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan, calling him a “fun-loving character” and a “fighter” for the positivity that Delhi batter brought to the game and the dressing room.

Dhawan, who retired from international cricket last year, was the formidable force in the Indian top order during a career spanning over 12 years, with him featuring in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is, scoring 10,867 runs.

Now Dhawan has returned to the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground — not for a match, but for a special event titled ‘Beyond the Boundaries’, an initiative spearheaded by Da One Group, an organisation founded by Dhawan that focuses on grassroots sports, youth development, and socially impactful initiatives.

Several of Dhawan’s former teammates attended the event at the Lord’s Long Room on Wednesday, including Pathan and Suresh Raina.

“He is a fun-loving character. He’s always smiling. No matter what the situation, he’s a fighter,” Pathan told IANS in London. He has been a Mr. ICC as well for the Indian cricket team. He’s done really well, and when he played for India, he gave his all.”

Dhawan was also known as an ODI specialist, lighting up the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, not only helping India to a title win but also ending up as the highest run-scorer with 363 runs at 90.75. He also went on to star in other tournaments such as the Asia Cup 2014, the Cricket World Cup 2015, the Champions Trophy 2017, and the Asia Cup 2018.

“He had so many injuries as well. He’s seen tough times as well. He has come up hard ways. So, when he has come up like that and now, to look back at scoring 10,000 international runs for Team India in all formats, I think he should be very, very proud. We are very proud of him, and it’s always a pleasure being around him,” Pathan added.

“There are so many lessons I have learned from the game, Dhawan told IANS, sharing about the learning from his career.

“First of all, how to handle failures. Cricket is more about handling failures. Handling failures with a cool mind, with gracefulness, and still going on and still doing the process. So that’s what I learnt from cricket and how to be positive. You should be your own best friend because individuals talk to themselves the most. So you should talk really positively even when things are not going your way,” said Dhawan.

IANS

bc/bsk/