IND Vs SA: Rohit Sharma Aiming To Break MS Dhoni's Elite Record

Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma will be making his much-awaited comeback in competitive cricket for the first time since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Final on November 19. As he prepares to help India clinch a maiden Test series win in South Africa, he is also in line to overtake Indian cricket’s legend MS Dhoni for the record of Most sixes by an Indian in Test cricket.

As we all know, Rohit has the most number of sixes in International cricket with 582 sixes across all formats. He has smacked 323 sixes in One Day Internationals whereas in the shortest format, Rohit Sharma has sent the ball to the stands 182 times, and in Red-ball cricket, he has 77 sixes.

The 36-year-old needs just 1 more hit to emulate MS Dhoni’s record of 78 sixes and another Biggie will help him move above Dhoni. Rohit is currently at the 17th spot in terms of Most sixes in Test cricket and in this very series, he might as well try to move up and replace a few others as well.

When India last traveled to South Africa for a Test series, Rohit Sharma was not a part of the India squad that lost a 3-match Test series by 2-1. He had to miss the series due to an Injury but with him being the Captain this time around, Rohit will be hoping to improve his record as well in South Africa.

He has been a part of only 2 Test series there with the first one coming in 2013 and the 2nd and last one coming 5 years later in 2018. On his first tour, India suffered a 1-0 loss in a 2-match Test series but exactly 10 years later, he has a golden opportunity to do what even MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, and other Captains could not do.

It will also be a great learning curve for Rohit who will try to win the series here which might somehow ease his pain of not being able to lift the Cricket World Cup trophy as well as the ICC WTC trophy back in June.

Can Rohit Sharma Learn From His Past Mistakes And Get Runs In South Africa This Time Around?

The Mumbai-born Batter is yet to perform like his original self at the Rainbow Nation. His stats over there don’t support the kind of Batter he is. Rohit Sharma is yet to score a Test half-century there and it will be fair to say that he has somehow struggled in South African conditions.

Rohit has scored just 123 runs in 8 innings including a best score of 47. He has averaged 15.37 in 4 Tests and it is something he will improve this time. It is not a secret that Indian batters do struggle in South Africa with the collective average of all the batters being 25.02, the lowest in any of the SENA nations.

Lastly, it will be a good toss to win at Centurion as the SuperSport track is quite slow in the 1st innings with seamers getting a good amount of help as well. If India ends up Batting first, all eyes will be on Rohit Sharma to not just give India a solid start but also remain in the crease as long as possible.