Shikhar Dhawan Joins India Legends But World Cup Dreams Ruined

India's sensational run at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 came to a grinding halt against co-hosts Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Billions of fans around the world and the MS Dhoni's brigade would be undoubtedly gutted but Shikhar Dhawan would probably feel the hurt more than the others. The left-handed opener from Delhi became only the fourth Indian to score over 400 runs in a single World Cup. He finished with 449 runs.

Before Dhawan, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were the only Indian batsmen to achieve that feat. While Ganguly and Dravid rode on their brilliant form in the 1999 World Cup in England, Tendulkar did it as many as three times -- in 1996, 2003 and 2011. India went on to win the World Cup in the Little Master's last attempt in Mumbai.

For Dhawan though, there was no such luck. Scintillating knocks against Pakistan, South Africa and Ireland once again showed Dhawan's caliber on the big stage. He was the man-of-the-tournament during India's successful Champions Trophy in England two years back and he led the batting group with aplomb this time too.

But on the day that mattered, everything fell apart. Chasing a steep 329, Dhawan started with a flourish. There were shots played on both sides of the wicket and that gave the defending champions a glimmer of hope. But his rampaging innings was cut short by Josh Hazlewood. He was out for a quick-fire 45 and that was a big blow for india. The rest of the batting caved in against some high pressure bowling from the Australians as India bowed out of the tournament where they played like true world champions.