CWC '23: Shikhar Dhawan shares heartfelt post for Team India ahead of opener vs Australia

The CWC 2023 edition kicked off on Thursday (October 5) with the defending champions England taking on New Zealand in Ahmedabad. Team India, under Rohit Sharma, will open their campaign on Sunday (October 5) when they take on Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Ahead of their tournament opener, veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan shared a heartfelt message for the national side on X, formerly Twitter.

On his official account on X, Dhawan wrote, "Chak De India! 🇮🇳 Let's paint the world blue, boys! All the best on your World Cup journey. Bring that trophy home! #TeamIndia #WorldCup2023."

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Dhawan, regarded as a G.O.A..T of ODI cricket, lost his spot in the white-ball squads with the emergence of Shubman Gill. The left-hander has been India's Mr Dependable in 50-over ICC events, including the last two editions of the ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy in 2013 and 2017. Dhawan, a veteran of 167 ODIs, has amassed6,793 runs at an average of44.11 including 17 hundreds and 39 fifties.

After Dhawan's ouster, India have rebuilt their top order convincingly with Gill being one of the most consistent performers in 2023, with five ODI tons. Thus, the 24-year-old right-hander will be desperate to fill in the big shoes of Dhawan and be among runs for India in the mega event.

India's schedule at CWC '23

India versus Australia in Chennai on October 8
India versus Afghanistan in New Delhi on October 11
India versus Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 14
India versus Bangladesh in Pune on October 19
India versus New Zealand in Dharamshala on October 22
India versus England in Lucknow on October 29
India versus Sri Lanka in Mumbai on November 02
India versus South Africa in Kolkata on November 05
India versus Netherlands in Bengaluru on November 12

India squad for CWC '23:Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav

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