A look at the staggering records and statistics that show how Rohit Sharma has excelled in ODIs
Sampath Bandarupalli12-Sep-2023Struggling start to an elite clubRohit Sharma, against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, joined the elite club of batters to complete 10,000 ODI runs when he reached 23 with a six straight over Kasun Rajitha. Rohit is now the second-fastest to the milestone among the 15 batters, needing 241 innings, well behind Virat Kohli (205) but 18 innings quicker than Sachin Tendulkar (259).ESPNcricinfo LtdThis feat looked like a far-fetched dream for Rohit about a decade ago, when he was yet to reach 2000 ODI runs even after playing more than 80 matches. But his promotion to open at the start of 2013 did wonders for his career. In his first four years as an ODI opening batter, Rohit scored 3153 runs in 66 innings with eight centuries, all being big hundreds.Two of the eight were double-hundreds, including a world record 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014. The next four years saw Rohit’s ultimate batting success, where he scored 19 hundreds in only 70 innings and nearly amassed 4000 runs while averaging more than 65. A different Rohit has been turning up since 2021, with his average dropping but his strike rate going higher than ever.Across 24 innings he played in this period, he scored 916 runs at 45.80 with only one century but has been striking at 106.38, about 16 runs more than his career strike rate. Rohit, who used to be a slow starter, is striking at 91.27 in his first 20 balls since taking up the job of India captain towards the end of 2021. Till that point, Rohit’s first 20 balls’ strike rate was only 64.22, and 65.42 since 2013.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe late bloomerRohit’s success as an opener in ODIs is unmatched, with 8001 runs in 160 innings, averaging 55.95, comfortably the highest for a minimum of 50 innings, with only Imam-ul-Haq (50.44) averaging 50-plus. The India batter has 28 hundreds while opening, only behind Tendulkar’s 45. Rohit is known for big hundreds – eight of those 28 hundreds have been 150-plus scores – including three double-hundreds, while no one else has even two.But the point where Rohit took his ODI batting to the next level was only after turning 30. Returning from a long injury layoff in mid-2017, Rohit began a streak of scoring hundreds in ten consecutive series. He followed up with a dream World Cup in 2019, where he became the first player to smash five hundreds in a single edition.
Twenty of his 30 ODI hundreds have come after turning 30. Only two other batters have scored as many or more – Tillakaratne Dilshan (21) and Sanath Jayasuriya (21), but both played more than 200 games after the age of 30. Rohit’s average of 60.41 since turning 30 is also the second-highest for any batter with 1000-plus runs, behind AB de Villiers (63.64).Making most of the starts and a unique six-hitting abilityRohit’s stint as opener coincided with his tendency to improve on his conversions. On average, Rohit scores 93.95 runs every time he crosses 50. And when scoring a hundred, Rohit’s average score rises to 138, the best for any batter with 15 or more hundreds in ODIs. The success behind his big knocks is his acceleration to make up for slow starts. He strikes at 152.86 after facing 100 balls, while his strike rate in the first 50 balls is only 78.6.
Rohit’s six-hitting prowess makes him a rare player among consistent batters. Rohit stands third in the list of most sixes in ODIs, behind only Shahid Afridi (351) and Chris Gayle (331). A total of 17.11% of Rohit’s career runs have come from hitting sixes, which is the highest for anyone with 5000-plus runs at an average of 40. Martin Guptill is closest to Rohit at 15.27%.The prime in a shadowRohit’s prime in the ODI format could be considered between 2015 and 2020, during which he amassed 5363 runs at an average of 62.36, with 24 hundreds in only 97 innings. Only Kohli (5832) scored more runs in that period and averaged more (68.61) among the players with 1000-plus runs. No one else even had 4500 runs or came close to 20 centuries in that period.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut even as Rohit was enjoying one of the most prolific phases for an ODI batter, he remained under the radar as Kohli was setting the bar higher than ever before. Rohit’s best run of 50 ODIs came from 2014 to 2017 when he scored 2990 runs at a staggering average of 66.44. Kohli averaged a little lower at 62.89 during the phase that coincided with Rohit’s best run of 50 ODIs. However, Kohli was only starting his great run of form that was to follow.Between 2015 and 2018, Kohli had the most prolific run of 50 ODIs the format has ever seen for a batter, scoring 3497 runs at an average of 94.51. Rohit himself scored 2699 runs at an average of 64.26 across 50 innings during that time. It wasn’t even the best run of 50 ODIs Rohit has had, but was good enough to be the second best of that period.
