Rohit Sharma Becomes The Fastest Opener To Score 7000 ODI Runs

Team India’s staggering opener, Rohit Sharma has become the fastest opener to score 7000 One-Day International (ODI) runs. He achieved the milestone on Friday while batting in a game against Australia in Rajkot. Rohit Sharma has taken the fewest innings (137) to score 7000 runs as an opener. Hashim Amla takes the second spot in the list with 147 innings. Master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar stands third with 160 innings.

Rohit also became only the fourth Indian opener to score 7000 ODI runs. Before him, only Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Sourav Ganguly have been able to score these many runs as an opener for India. In the second ODI against Australia, Rohit scored 42 runs and gave a solid start to India along with Shikhar Dhawan on the other hand. Rohit got injured in the second innings during fielding while trying to stop the ball from hitting the ropes.

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Rohit Sharma Credits Dhoni For His Success

Rohit made his debut in ODI cricket in the year 2007. But he wan’t a regular in the team until he started opening the innings in 2013. He first opened against England in the series at home and scored 80 runs. What followed was an absolute carnage by him and Shikhar Dhawan in the Champions Trophy in 2013 in England. India won the tournament and since then, both the openers haven’t looked back and have been the regular openers for India in limited over cricket.

Rohit has credited former Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his success. “I believe the decision to open in ODIs changed my career and it was a decision taken by MS Dhoni. I became a better batsman after that. In fact it helped me understand my game better, react better according to situations,” Rohit told PTI in an exclusive interview in 2017.

India beat Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series on Friday in Rajkot. India has levelled the series 1-1 and the decider will be played at Bangalore on Sunday. Having lost the toss, India posted a mammoth 340 runs on the scoreboard. Australia, while chasing were bowled out on 304 runs.

K.L. Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli scored half-centuries for India. Mohammed Shami was the pick of the bowlers as he clinched three wickets. Steve Smith and Shikhar Dhawan got out on nervous nineties. The decider will be exciting to watch as both the giants of World Cricket will lock horns to win the ultimate prize.

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