India has been a dominant force in ODI cricket and the main reason for their consistency has been the form of the top order. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been exemplary as the opening pair and then Virat Kohli at number three has been an embodiment of consistency.

Despite him not getting the required attention and accolades, Shikhar Dhawan has established himself as one of the best batsman in the world in this format.

The conditions and pitches in ODI cricket have suited him and when there is no assistance for the bowlers, Dhawan has played with freedom and has created an impact at the top of the order.

Supreme numbers in white ball cricket

Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan is leading the run-scorers' list in the ongoing Asia Cup tournament.ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images

In 13 matches this year, the left-hander has scored 770 runs at an average of 64.16 with a strike rate of 104.47. He has worked on his leg-side play and this bore fruits for him as he now has the ability to nudge and nurdle and also pull deliveries which are bowled straight in order to tuck him up. Such has been his consistency, that in the 15 ODI innings, Dhawan has scored 938 runs with an average of 72.15.

Dhawan announced his arrival as the destructive opener back in 2013 during the Champions Trophy and has not looked back ever since. He has been the man for India in all multi-nation tournaments and has always been amongst the leading run-getters. He has never averaged less than 50 in terms of batting average in 5+ team tournaments and what makes his impact even more powerful is the fact that his strike rate is always more than 90 in tournaments with more than 5 teams.

"I have learnt the lessons the hard way. That's good for me and it's nice to have that balance. When you play 20 overs it gets easy. The plan was not to lose wickets in the first 10 overs and you might not get runs easily early on Rohit played an amazing knock today and he's very good at converting those 50s into 100s and that's something I've learnt from him," Dhawan said after his century against Pakistan.

Everything looks perfect for the Indian team at the moment, their openers are scoring runs and the bowlers are amongst the wicket-takers and India would hope Shikhar Dhawan extends his purple patch to the World Cup.