Indian skipper Rohit Sharma not only played a key role in India’s 100 run victory against defending champions England in the ongoing ODI World Cup on Sunday, but also set a new record for himself in the process. His crucial knock of 87 runs helped India put on 229 runs on board against England, eventually to bowl out England for a paltry total of 129 runs.
The win against England was India’s sixth successive victory in the ongoing tournament. With 12 points in its pocket, Team India is not only leading the table but has also strengthened its position for the semi-final.
Seventh captain to lead India in 100 matches
Among a number of records that Rohit Sharma set on Sunday, including becoming the seventh captain to lead India in 100 or more matches. Among other captains who led India in as many matches include Sourabh Ganguly, Kapil Dev. MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin and Rahul Dravid. While Sachin Tendulkar has led India in 98 matches, another legend, Sunil Gavaskar, has led India in 84 matches. Dhoni captained india in mors number of matches 332 ODIs. He is followed by Azharuddin, who captained India in 221 matches.
Six successive wins as captain in World Cup
With six successive wins in the ongoing tournament, Rohit Sharma also became the first Indian captain to win as many matches successively during any ODI World Cup since it started in 1975.
Record number of sixes
On his way of to playing a splendid knock on Sunday, Rohit Sharma also hit 56 sixes during the match against England. In the process, he equalled Chris Gayle’s record of hitting the same number of sixes in a calendar year. He is just three sixes short of Ab de Villiers who hit 58 sixes in 2015.
Reaching 18,000 runs mark
The knock also saw him reach the 18,000 runs mark in international cricket. Playing his 257th ODI, Rohit Sharma became the 20th batsman to reach the milestone worldwide and fifth Indian. Among his other records, Rohit Sharma also became the sixth Indian skipper to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year. Captains who achieved similar feet in the past include Sourav Ganguly (2000, 2002), MS Dhoni (2008, 2009), Virat Kohli (2017, 2018 and 2019), Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and Mohammed Azharuddin (1998).
Rohit Sharma has so far played in 23 ODI World Cup matches. Of these, he won the man of the match award seven times. Before him, only Sachin Tendulakar is the only Indian skipper to win nine awards.