Indian captain Rohit Sharma ended his drought of centuries in ODI cricket with a spectacular knock of 101 runs in the ongoing match against New Zealand. Opening the innings for India at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Sharma stitched up a 212-run stand with Shubman Gill.
Rohit Sharma had not touched the 100-run mark in an ODI innings in the last 1,100 days. His last ODI ton came against Australia back in January 2020. Fans were concerned about him as the Cricket World Cup is fast approaching, but the Hitman silenced his doubters with an incredible century against New Zealand.
The Indian captain’s innings consisted of nine fours and six sixes. Rohit Sharma batted at a strike rate of 118 as he hammered the Kiwi bowlers in Indore. During his fantastic century, Sharma broke multiple records.
Here’s a list of the top three records the Indian skipper broke today.
#1 Rohit Sharma broke the record for his fastest ODI century on Indian soil
‘s for Rohit Sharma (by balls faced)
Fastest ODI 💯’s for Rohit Sharma (by balls faced)82 vs Eng Nottingham 201883 vs NZ Indore 2023 *84 vs WI Guwahati 2018#INDvNZ https://t.co/s8YE7sStYy
Rohit Sharma was in great touch today as he completed his 30th ODI ton off just 83 deliveries. The Indian captain raced to his half-century off 41 balls, smacking four fours and four sixes. He took 42 more balls to complete his ton.
Fans expected a grand score from Sharma today, but the Indian skipper departed to the pavilion soon after completing his hundred. Michael Bracewell dismissed him on the first ball of the 27th over when he was batting on 101.
Sharma would be delighted with his performance today as it was the fastest ODI hundred scored by him on Indian soil. In 2018, he scored a 84-ball century against West Indies at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium.
#2 Rohit Sharma created a new record with Shubman Gill
Sharma and Shubman Gill took great advantage of the batting-friendly track at the Holkar Cricket Stadium and added 212 runs off just 26.1 overs. It was a new world record for the highest opening partnership against New Zealand in ODIs.
Besides, Sharma and Gill also maintained the best run rate by an Indian opening pair that batted a minimum of 25 overs in an ODI match. The run rate during their partnership was 8.10. They broke Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag’s record of 7.35 run rate against West Indies in 2002.
Ganguly and Sehwag scored 196 runs off 26.4 overs in the third ODI of the 2002 series against West Indies in Rajkot.
#3 Rohit Sharma broke Sanath Jayasuriya’s record
Sharma surpassed former Sri Lankan all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya to bag the third place on the list of players with the most sixes in ODI cricket. Sharma smacked six sixes in his innings of 101 runs, taking his overall tally of maximums to 273.
Sharma broke Jayasuriya’s record of 270 sixes with the fourth six he hit against New Zealand earlier today. The Indian captain is currently only behind Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle on the all-time list.
It will be interesting to see if he can break the world record before he retires from ODI cricket.
