 Dhawan made his first-class debut for Delhi against Andhra in November 2004, in the 2004–05 season of the Ranji Trophy scoring 49 on his debut innings.He finished as Delhi's leading run-getter that Ranji season with a total of 461 runs from 6 matches and a high score of 130, scoring more runs than experienced players in the team like Ajay Jadeja and Aakash Chopra.In the Ranji One-day Trophy that followed, Dhawan made his List A debut against Jammu & Kashmir in January 2005.