'Gabbar is back': Twitter reacts to Shikhar Dhawan's 98 in 1st ODI

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan smashed 98 off 106 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes.

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan on Tuesday missed out on his 18th ODI century by two runs in the first ODI against England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

India's Shikhar Dhawan missed out on his 18th century by 2 runs. (AP)

Dhawan smashed 98 off 106 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes. The swashbuckling batsman had reached 91 in 95 balls but slowed down considerably due to the departure of Shreyas Iyer a few balls later. Eventually, in the 39th over, the southpaw tried to put away a short ball from Ben Stokes but he only managed to pull it straight to Eoin Morgan at mid-wicket.

Sent in to bat, the hosts finished their 50 overs with a total of 317/5. After a slow start, it was skipper Virat Kohli (56) and Dhawan who broke through the shackles and started scoring more freely. The two put on 105 runs for the second wicket.

England pulled back considerably after the dismissal of Dhawan but courtesy a late blitz from KL Rahul (62 not out) and debutant Krunal Pandya (58 not out), India sailed past 300.

Here's how Twitter reacted to the wonderful innings.

The Delhi batsman last scored a ton against Against in the 2019 World Cup in June and it has been eight innings now since he last scored an ODI ton.