India opener Shikhar Dhawan has told that leaving 2019 World Cup campaign midway after getting injured in the match against Australia was a sad moment for him but it also gave him the maximum “limelight” in his career.

Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the 2019 World Cup after a Pat Cummins delivery hit him on his thumb and injured him. The injury was a major setback for India as Dhawan had scored a match-winning century in the same match. Also, the southpaw’s record in ICC tournaments have been phenomenal. Moreover, a young and inexperienced Rishabh Pant had to be called to replace him.

Speaking to India Today, Shikhar Dhawan said that he got his career’s maximum “limelight” after his return to India as fans kept on saying that things would have been different if he was in the team till the end of the quadrennial tournament.

“I was, being very honest, sad. When I was batting, I knew I got fractured, I took pain killers… my pain threshold is high… and kept on batting. We won the match. In my whole career, I never got that much of limelight. After the injury, I came back… people were saying ‘because of you, you were not there, you were not there’. I saw a lot of positive,” Shikhar Dhawan said.

The 34-year-old Delhi batsman added that he moved on quickly after being sad for a while. Dhawan also reckoned that his quality of acceptance came to his rescue at that crucial juncture of his career.

“For me, I knew I gave my best and in that particular moment, I gave my best in a difficult situation.

“It didn’t affect me. I was sad for maybe 5-10 minutes and then I got over with it. That was a reality.

“You have to change your mindset from expectation to acceptance. Once you have strong acceptance in life, you will ride it very smoothly.

“I was totally fine. I was happy, went back and had a great time with my family. I was enjoying it and that attitude helped me as well. I came back to the team and started scoring. I was positive, there was no negative thought ‘oh this could be my last World Cup’. I don’t know but that positivity kept me going,” Shikhar Dhawan added.

India in the 2019 World Cup had cruised into the semifinals but crashed after a very dismal performance against New Zealand.