Ex-India Opener Lands in Huge Legal Trouble For Illegal Betting

As per the reports in PTI, it is learned that the former Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan has found himself under a massive scanner. He has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, September 4, 2025.
As per the reports, Shikhar Dhawan has been summoned for questioning in an alleged illegal betting app-linked money laundering case. He is associated with an illegal" betting app named 1xBet, and now will be giving his statement, which will be given under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Shikhar Dhawan ED call is reportedly due to his link with the app through certain endorsements. During his questioning, the ED would be keen to understand his links with this app.
A few hours after the summons of Shikhar Dhawan legal case, he reached the office of the federal probe agency in central Delhi around 11 AM. His statement was recorded, and after that, he was asked to leave. The decision is now expected to come in the next few days.

Shikhar Dhawan betting case, however, is not the first for a player to be summoned by the ED. The agency has been investing the several cases which have been involved in illegal betting apps. Recently, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina also came under the scanner for the same.

This comes after the Government of India passed the ‘Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025’ in the Parliament. According to this, all the real-money gaming platforms, like Dream11, My 11 Circle, and others, have been banned in the country.
As a result of that, Dream 11, which was the title sponsor of the Indian Cricket Team, also pulled out of their deal just ahead of the Asia Cup 2025. This means that there will be no sponsors for the team in the tournament. Also, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) invited new sponsors as well.

Shikhar Dhawan's Career Over The Years

Shikhar Dhawan ended his career as one of the best batsmen in India. The former batter stamped his authority as one of the best openers for the side in all three formats of the game, especially in the one-day Internationals.

Gabbar, along with one of the best openers in the world, Rohit Sharma, was the backbone of the Indian batting lineup. The duo provided solid starts to the team in all the games that he played. The left-hander was the main reason why India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 without even losing a single game.

This left-handed batter made his debut for India in 2010 in an ODI game against Australia. Next year, he became part of the T20I team as well. He had to wait a bit to make his Test debut, which he eventually did in 2013 and made an instant impact, slamming a century on debut. He continued playing for India in ODIs till 2022 and scored truckloads of runs. However, in the last phase of his career, he struggled, and eventually, Shubman Gill replaced him in the Indian ODI side. The youngster is now the vice-captain of the side.
Shikhar Dhawan ended his career with 6793 runs in the 167 ODIs that he played. He held an average of around 45 and also hammered 39 fifties and 17 centuries throughout his career. In 68 T20Is, he scored 1759 runs at a strike rate of 126 to go with 11 fifties.

Dhawan also played 34 Tests for India, slamming 2315 runs at an average of 40.61. He also hit seven hundreds and five fifties during his career in the longest format of the game.