Indian captain Rohit Sharma maintained his red-hot form and scored an attacking fifty for the Men in Blue in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Sunday (August 4), which was played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The 37-year-old right-handed batter faced a total of 44 balls and, with the help of five fours and four sixes, scored 64 runs. He completed his fifty in 29 balls and added 97 runs for the first wicket with Shubman Gill in 13.3 overs before being dismissed by Jeffrey Vandersay.
By scoring his second fifty in the ongoing three-match ODI series, Rohit broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 120 fifty-plus scores for India as the opener in international cricket. The Nagpur-born cricketer, who made his India debut in 2007, has 121 fifty-plus scores as an opener.
On the list of batters with the most 50+ scores as openers, Australia’s David Warner sits in the No. 1 position. The star left-handed batter, who announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this year, has 146 fifty-plus scores to his name. He is followed by the West Indies’ legend Chris Gayle (144), Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya (136), West Indies’ Desmond Haynes (131), and former South African captain Graeme Smith (125).
Apart from breaking Tendulkar’s record of most 50+ scores as opener on Sunday, Rohit also became the first Indian opener to score 300 in international cricket. The four sixes in the second ODI also helped him take his tally of sixes to 330 in ODIs, which is one less than Gayle’s 331. Former Pakistani all-rounder and captain Shahid Afridi sits in the No. 1 position on the list of batters with the most sixes in ODIs.
During his 19-year-long ODI career, Afridi played 398 matches for the Men in Green and scored 351 sixes.
The 64-run knock on Sunday by Rohit also helped him break Rahul Dravid’s record of 10,768 runs in ODIs for India and become the fourth-leading run scorer for the Men in Blue in the 50-over format of the game. The 37-year-old Rohit, who is one of the three Indian captains to win an ICC trophy, has 10,831 runs to his name in 264 ODI matches played so far.
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