Indian captain Rohit Sharma broke another record by scoring a quickfire 43 off 60 deliveries in the fourth innings of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. The Mumbai-born batter became only the third Indian opener after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to score 13000 runs in International Cricket while playing as an opener.
Rohit Sharma entered the list of some elite Indian openers as he scored 58 runs across two innings at the Oval Stadium. Rohit needed only 27 runs to achieve this feat. However, the opener got dismissed for 15 in the first innings.
Rohit needed only 12 runs in the second innings, as he became only the third Indian to score 13000 runs in International Cricket as an opening batter.
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Only Sachin Tendulkar (15758 runs) and Virender Sehwag (15335 runs) have more runs for India than Rohit Sharma as an opener in international cricket. Tendulkar only opened in ODIs, whereas Sehwag faced the new ball across all formats.
What is Rohit Sharma’s journey as an opener for India?
Rohit started opening the innings in international cricket ever since 2013. Before 2013, he played as a floater or a middle-order batsman. The then-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni realized Rohit’s potential and asked him to face the new ball in ODIs at the Champions Trophy 2013.
Rohit has been opening in white ball cricket for the past ten years but was given the responsibility in the red ball as recently as 2019. Rohit was a middle-order batsman in Tests until 2019.
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He grabbed the opportunity to open in whites with both hands. Rohit was handed the captaincy of the Indian cricket team across all formats recently.