September 2 (CRICKETNMORE) - Indian left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan who is currently playing the ODI series against Sri Lanka is popularly known as "Gabbar" among his team-mates. He got this name much before he started playing for India and with time along with batting his nickname popularity also grows.
An interesting story is associated about how Shikhar got this nickname. In an interview given to famous cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, Dhawan shared the incident. The name was given to him by his Ranji team coach Vijay Dahiya.
Dhawan who used to field at silly point had a peculiar habit of cheering his team-mates while fielding. "I used to stand at silly-point in Ranji Trophy matches and when the opposition gets big partnership, my team get down and I used to shout ‘Bahut Yarana Lagtha Hai’ (A famous dialogue in Sholay movie which was used by Gabbar (Amjad Khan) in the movie)”.
People forgot the incident but he got the nickname ‘Gabbar”.
Sahir