[19] In October 2002, Dhawan was selected again in the Delhi Under-19 team for the Cooch Behar Trophy in which he made 388 runs from 8 innings at an average of 55.42 including two centuries.

[24] Dhawan played for India in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh and finished as the leading run-scorer of the tournament scoring a total of 505 runs.

In the second match, Dhawan scored a 124-ball 126, sharing a 246-run first-wicket partnership with Dhoni who also struck a century, helping India Seniors chase down 276 for the loss of two wickets.

[39] He was made captain of the Delhi team for the Ranji One-day Trophy in February 2007, despite the presence of international players in the lineup such as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra and Ashish Nehra.

[41] Delhi won the 2007–08 season of Ranji Trophy in which Dhawan made 570 runs from 8 matches at an average of 43.84 including two hundreds.

[48] His good form continued in the Ranji Trophy as he scored 224 in the season's opening match against Baroda[49] and 100 in the second game against Karnataka.

[50] However, Dhawan suffered an injury in the third match which kept him on the sidelines for four weeks[51] He returned to the team during the knockout stage and finished the Ranji season with a total of 451 runs from 6 innings averaging 75.16.

[56] In the limited-overs triangular series involving England Lions, India A, and West Indies A, Dhawan scored 166 runs from 4 innings at an average of 41.50 and a strike rate of 130.70.

[57] Dhawan was selected in the Rest of India squad to play against the defending Ranji champions Mumbai in the Irani Cup in October 2010.

After his poor performances in the West Indies, Dhawan was unable to find a place in the Indian squad that toured England later that year and resumed his domestic commitments.

[63] He was out of form in the 2011–12 Ranji Trophy as he scored 296 runs at an average of 32.88 with no hundreds,[64] while Delhi finished sixth in their seven-team group and could not progress to the knockout stage.

India's regular openers in limited-overs, Sehwag and Gambhir were ruled out of the tour due to shoulder injuries, whereas Tendulkar decided to rest himself after the World Cup win and the IPL.

[83] The selectors picked Dhawan in the limited-overs squad in spite of his poor performance in the previous domestic season as he showed signs of returning to form during the IPL.

He made his T20I debut against West Indies on 4 June at Port of Spain where he opened the innings with Parthiv Patel and was dismissed after an 11-ball 5.

After consistent performances in the 2012–13 domestic season, Dhawan was rewarded with a call-up to the Indian Test squad in February 2013 for the four-match series against Australia.

In the process, Dhawan scored the fastest century ever on Test debut, off 85 balls, breaking the long-held record of Gundappa Viswanath (137 vs Australia at Kanpur, 1969).

Dhawan was dismissed for 187 (174 balls) in the second over of the fourth day, caught by Ed Cowan at silly point off the bowling of Nathan Lyon.

[91] Dhawan made his comeback from injury during the 2013 Indian Premier League in a match for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Chennai Super Kings on 25 April and scored 63 runs from 45 balls.

[93] His good form helped him gain selection to the Indian ODI squad for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy that was to be held in England in June.

In the tournament's opening match between India and South Africa at Cardiff, Dhawan scored his maiden ODI hundred—114 from 94 balls including 12 fours and a six.

He recorded the second-highest List A innings of all time by scoring 248 runs off 150 balls[111] against South Africa A in the last group match of the series at Pretoria, the winner of which would play Australia A in the final.

[112][113] After the match, South Africa A captain Justin Ontong described Dhawan's knock as "the best one-day innings" he had ever seen, and added "Every shot he hit found the gap or went over the fielders.

In the sixth game at Nagpur, he scored a 102-ball 100, his fourth ODI century, which helped India successfully chase Australia's total of 350.

[132] Following his good domestic performances, Dhawan was recalled to the India ODI squad for the Champions Trophy starting June 2017.

[139] He carried forward his good form in the tour of West Indies, scoring two consecutive half-centuries in the first two matches of the five-match ODI series, that India won 3–1.

[163] In the 2018 Indian Premier League, he scored 497 runs, his side finished runners-up after losing to Chennai Super Kings in the final.

[180] Dhawan made his Test debut against Australia at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Chandigarh, in March 2013.

[184] Dhawan made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Australia at the Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, in October 2010.

[187] Dhawan made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut against the West Indies in June 2011 at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain.

[189][190] ICC World ODI XI: 2013[213] In 2008, Dhawan became engaged to Melbourne-based Aesha Mukerji, an experienced kickboxer,[228] who later married in 2012.