Shikhar Dhawan shot to fame after an unprecedented run in the 2004 U-19 World Cup, where he scored 505 runs garnished with 3 hundreds. However, it took him a long while to make it to the Indian team due to the large amount of competition at the time. A naturally attacking left-handed opener, Dhawan has been one of the mainstays of the Delhi line-up for a long time and forms an impregnable top-order along with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, scoring runs by the barrel along with them. He was rated quite highly by experts for his ability to dig in and play the big innings.