India captain Rohit Sharma played an outstanding effort against Sri Lanka to celebrate his One Day International comeback. In addition to providing his team with a strong start, the Indian opener made history by matching the legendary Sachin Tendulkar‘s record of 58 scores of 50 or more while starting one-day international matches.
This is the first One-Day International (ODI) between India and Sri Lanka that has taken place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo since India’s World Cup final appearance in November 2023. The match was made much more important by the addition of veteran players like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma to the side. After winning the toss, the hosts chose to bat first and gave India a goal of 231 runs.
Sharma displayed his aggressive batting technique once more. He showed his intentions from the first ball as he hit the second ball of the innings for a six. His 14-run onslaught on Mohamed Shiraz, his rookie, in the fourth over set the tone for the rest of his innings.
As an opener, Rohit Sharma crosses the 15,000-run threshold.
In just 33 balls, the captain of India achieved his half-century, and he celebrated by hitting Akila Dananjaya for six with one of his signature slog sweeps. After making 58 runs off 47 deliveries and hitting seven boundaries and three sixes during his innings, the opener was out.
This knock helped the 37-year-old reach a number of noteworthy achievements. Most significantly, he equalled Tendulkar’s score as an opener in all international forms, with 120 scores of 50 or higher. With just five players ahead of him in this area, this accomplishment puts him in an elite group of openers.
In addition, Rohit became just the sixth player in international cricket history to reach 15,000 runs as an opener thanks to his performance. In this distinguished list, he now trails only fellow Indians Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
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During this innings, the seasoned hitter also became the 13th player in history to hit 1000 fours in one-day international cricket. With 1001 fours in his career, he ranks fifth in this category among Indian batters. Sharma now has an incredible 234 maximum sixes to his name, surpassing even Eoin Morgan as the captain with the most in all forms.