Rohit Sharma is certain to bring up another double century in ODIs when he takes the field as India captain in Virat Kohli’s absence in the fourth ODI against New Zealand at Hamilton on Thursday.
Rohit is set to play his 200th ODI for India. The 31-year-old will be the 14th Indian and the 80th in the world to turn up in 200 or more ODIs.
Why is Rohit’s achievement special?
92 players before Rohit Sharma have played 200 ODIs. But none have achieved what Rohit has so far. Rohit has a special connection with double centuries. He is the only cricketer to have hit three double tons in ODIs. His first (209) was against Australia at Bangalore in 2013. A year later he rewrote the history of cricket by slamming an unbeaten 264, which is still the highest score individual score in ODIs, against Sri Lanka at Kolkata. He had to wait for 3 more years to get his third double ton, the opposition was same though. The India opener slammed an unbeaten 209 against Sri Lanka at Mohali in 2017.
Apart from an uncanny knack of hitting double hundreds in ODIs, Rohit is also one of the most prolific six-hitters of the game. In the last ODI, he equalled MS Dhoni’s tally for the most number of sixes for India by hitting depositing Lockie Ferguson over square leg which marked his 215th six for India. He is also the only cricketer to average more than one six per match. He is the quickest to 200 ODI sixes.
Stellar record as captain
Rohit’s 200th ODI will be special for another reason. He will lead India in Kohli’s absence, who has been rested from the last two ODIs and the following T20I series. Rohit’s short record as Indian captain is phenomenal. In his 8 matches as captain, Rohit has scored 534 runs at a mindboggling average of 106.8 that includes two centuries, one of them being a double ton against Sri Lanka in 2017. Naturally, Rohit's performance has rubbed off the team’s one too. India have lost only one ODI out of 8 in which Rohit has led.