Rohit Sharma: The Life, Career and Records of the Hitman

Cricket is a gentleman’s sport and batting can be very pleasing to watch to the eye. Batsmen just play the cover drive to half volleys outside the off stump, leaving deliveries that are not meant to be dealt with; it’s just like a flowing dance. But when a batter decides it's time to hammer bowlers and try too hard to hit big shots. This can be risky and batters may end up losing their wickets. But, there’s one player who makes both playing styles look effortless and exceptionally easy, and stands out as a paragon of grace and power combined - Indian Cricket Team’s Captain, our very own, Rohit Sharma. The 5 times IPL trophy winner has been one of the best players in the last decade for India and has played some extraordinary innings over the years. In Rohit Sharma’s Biography by ZAP, let’s go through the legend’s life, and career and relive some of his greatest innings. 

Credit: Times Now

Early Life:

Rohit Sharma‘s birthday is on 30 April 1987 and he was born in Bansod, Nagpur, Maharashtra but moved to Mumbai and was raised by his grandparents in Borivali. In 1999, Rohit joined a camp at a nearby cricket academy where he met his coach Dinesh Lad. His coach suggested that he switch to Swami Vivekanand International School because it had better cricket facilities than his previous school and Lad was the head coach there. He couldn’t afford the fees at his school, so his coach got him a scholarship, which he continued for 4 years without paying a single penny as fees. He would do well in the important competitions like the Harris and Giles Shield school cricket tournaments, both as an off-spinner and a batsman. Rohit began his domestic cricket journey with the West Zone with a bang in 2005, impressing with his performances. He made a name for himself with a standout century in a Deodhar Trophy match against North Zone. In 2006, he entered first-class cricket and played a crucial role in Mumbai's success. And this is where his story began to take up pace.

Rohit Sharma International Debut and Career:

ODI Career:

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Rohit Sharma's made his One Day International career in 2007 when he made his debut against Ireland. His performances in the first few matches were very modest and not impressive, but then with a half-century against Pakistan, he announced himself as a dependable middle-order batter. He scored in his first international ton against Zimbabwe in 2010, but then had difficult a time with the bat. He had a run scoring drought and wasn’t even selected for the 2011 ICC World Cup in India. But, against all odds, he made a comeback to the Indian Cricket Team under MS Dhoni’s captaincy as an opener in the 2013 Champions Trophy, and this changed his career forever, becoming the elegant, classical, and effortless maestro with the bat that we know him today as. Since then he’s been one of the best batters in the world, and has even become India’s full time captain across all formats. 

T20 Career:

Credit: Sportskeeda

Rohit was an important part of the young Indian team for the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup and played some very crucial innings in the tournament. He scored a match winning 50 off 40 balls against South Africa in the quarter finals and an important 37 against Pakistan. His T20 career too, took off after 2013 becoming a major part of the team in all formats. He became the second Indian after Suresh Raina to score a century in all three international formats in 2015 during the South Africa tour of India. Then in 2017, he played a blistering knock, scoring a ton in just 35 balls against Sri Lanka, the joint fastest hundred in T20I Format. After Virat Kohli, Rohit became the second Indian to score 2,000 runs in Twenty20 internationals in 2018 and continued setting milestones.

Test Career:

Credit: Taipei Times

After being one of the best batsmen for the ICT in 2013’s Champions Trophy, he made his Test Cricket Debut later in the same year during the West Indies tour of India. He announced his arrival to the format during the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series, making 177 runs against the West Indies, the second-highest total by an Indian on their debut. He didn't stop there, following it up with an unbeaten 111 in the second Test at his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Sharma's Test career did, however, have its ups and downs. He returned in a big way to the team during the 2018–19 Australia trip after being absent from the Test team for a while. He scored an important 63 unbeaten to India's victory in the third Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, which helped the team win the match as well as the series. In October 2019, Rohit achieved a milestone by scoring his first double-century in Tests with 212 runs against South Africa. He would serve as the Indian Test team's vice-captain during the 2020 Australia tour thanks to his consistently strong performances.

One of his Test career's greatest points was in 2021 during a home series against England. He alongside Rahane made a 167-run partnership and helped India come back in the Chennai Test. In September 2021 at The Oval, he scored a historic oversees Test century. Sharma succeeded Virat Kohli as captain of India's Test team in February 2022.

Rohit Sharma captaincy for Indian Cricket Team:

Credit: India.Com

Rohit Sharma has been one of the best IPL Captains, and has led Mumbai Indians to 5 titles. He has also been the Vice Captain of the Indian Team for some time now and had captained the national side in matches when Virat Kohli wasn’t available or was unfit. After Kohli stepped down from captaincy from all formats of the game, he was the only one worthy enough to lead the team, and until now, he’s done a pretty decent job. Under his captaincy, India has won multiple bilaterals and the Nidahas Trophy (A Tri Series between India-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka), and the Asia Cup in 2018 and 2023. He is India’s captain full time captain, across all three formats, captaining the team for the 2023 ICC ODI Cricket World which is being held in India. 

Rohit Sharma Test, ODI and T20 stats:

Format	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	100s	50s	Batting Average	Batting Strike Rate	Catches
Tests	52	3677	212	10	16	46.54	56.27	51
ODIs	252	10112	264	30	52	48.61	90.47	91
T20Is	148	3853	118	4	29	31.32	139.24	58

Along with this, Ro even has 11 international career wickets, 2 wickets in Tests, 8 in ODIs and 1 in T20Is. 

Rohit Sharma Batting Technique and Style:

Credit: Sportskeeda

Rohit’s batting is the perfect blend of aggression and elegance. He makes hitting sixes effortless, and that’s the reason he is called the Ro-HITMAN-Sharma. When it’s his day, he is unstoppable especially in the powerplay overs. He just hits sixes on at his will. If you’re a bowler, you just cannot bowl short to him, because he arguably plays the best pull shot and hook shot, with the perfect batting technique, On top of this, his cover drive and straight drive are a thing of beauty, pure elegance. He used to bowl off-spin much more in the earlier years, but now has stopped doing it much. In the field too, he’s brilliant. He’s a player with some quick reflexes and that’s the reason he’s mainly present in the slip fielding position in test matches and for turning pitches in limited over games.  

Rohit Sharma – Mumbai Indians IPL Captain:

Credit: Times Now

Rohit Sharma was bought by the Deccan Chargers for the 2008 IPL season for $750,000 (about Rs. 6.5 Crore). During his time there, he also took a hat trick against the team he is the GOAT player for, Mumbai Indians. He dismissed Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, and Jean-Paul Duminy to achieve the rare milestone. Then in 2011 Auction, Mumbai Indians splashed $2M (about Rs. 16 Crore) a year for his service. He got his first IPL century the following year, scoring 109* against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He was appointed the captain of MI in 2013, which started their domination making them the greatest team in the history of the league. Mumbai won the IPL in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 under his leadership. In the 2015 season, his leadership was put to the test as the team struggled to stay afloat and had won just one of their first six games. The Mumbai Indians, then pulled off a spectacular comeback and to reach the finals, beating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) convincingly, where the Player of the Match was Rohit, who scored fifty runs. 

He is one of just seven players with 5,000 career runs in the competition as of October 2023. After Virat Kohli (7,263), Shikhar Dhawan (6,617) and David Warner (6397), Rohit Sharma is the fourth-highest run scorer with 6,211 runs in the IPL. His leadership in winning MI the 5 trophies along with the runs he has scored, could he potentially be considered the greatest player ever in the IPL?

Rohit Sharma IPL Stats:

Year	Matches Played	Team	Runs	Highest Score	Batting Average	Batting Strike Rate	Catches Taken (CT)
2008	13	Deccan Chargers (DC)	404	76*	36.72	147.98	8
2009	16	Deccan Chargers (DC)	362	52	27.84	114.92	5
2010	16	Deccan Chargers (DC)	404	73	28.85	133.77	9
2011	16	Mumbai Indians (MI)	372	87	33.81	125.25	7
2012	17	MI	433	109*	30.92	126.60	13
2013	19	MI	538	79*	38.42	131.54	7
2014	15	MI	390	59*	30.00	129.13	5
2015	16	MI	482	98*	34.42	144.74	5
2016	14	MI	489	85*	44.45	132.88	2
2017	17	MI	333	67	23.78	121.97	10
2018	14	MI	286	94	23.83	133.02	8
2019	15	MI	405	67	28.92	128.57	4
2020	12	MI	332	80	27.66	127.69	6
2021	13	MI	381	63	29.30	127.42	1
2022	14	MI	268	48	19.14	120.18	7
2023	16	MI	332	65	20.75	132.80	1
Career	243	DC+MI	6211	109*	29.58	130.05	98

Apart from the above batting and fielding stats, he even has 15 wickets to his name in the IPL!

Rohit Sharma Achievements and Records:

Rohit Sharma 264:

Credit: NDTV Sports

On 13th November 2013, Rohit Sharma played one of the greatest knocks of all time in cricket history. In the ODI game against Sri Lanka, he scored an unimaginable 264 runs……….once again 264 runs off 173 balls! He smacked Sri Lankan bowlers all around Eden Gardens. One famous anecdote from the match is that a Sri Lankan fielder dropped Ro’s catch early on in the innings when he was only on 4 runs. He then converted his chance to add 260 runs more to his tally, making it the costliest dropped catch ever!

Rohit Sharma 209:

Credit: The Hindu Business Line

This was once again one the greatest innings ever. Playing against a mighty Australian team in Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium, with the 7 match ODI series tied at 2-2, India had to win the match to win the series. Ro started slow alongside Dhawan, but two wickets fell quickly, which involved a mix up between him and Virat Kohli, where Virat was ran out only for single digit score. As Kohli stormed out of the ground furious, it was all on Rohit’s shoulders to carry the innings and take India’s score to a winning total. He did just that and more! Though his first hundred came slow, nobody had the idea, that he’d go on to score another one in no time. Playing cricket shots around the ground, sweeps, flick shots, inside out, he smashed the Aussies everywhere and reached his double hundred in trademark fashion, with a six. His innings ended in the final over at 209 off 158 deliveries. 

Rohit Sharma 208:

Credit: India Times

This innings was of a lot of importance. In the 2017 ODI series against Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli, the then first team captain was out for rest and Sharma had to take the captaincy duties. The first match was poor, with India getting bowled out on a mere total of 112 which Sri Lanka managed to chase without breaking a sweat. For the second ODI, Rohit, the captain and batsman was put into test and he once again smashed through it, scoring a spectacular 208 runs off 153 deliveries, his third double hundred, the most by any batsman. 

Rohit Sharma 100 off 35:

Credit: NDTV Sports

Reading through the above article, it is clear Ro loves playing against Sri Lanka and this is one more exploit against them but in a different format. This time in T20 format. He played an innings of 118 off just 43 balls, scoring his second t20 hundred. While playing the innings, he managed to reach his hundred in only 35 balls, equalling David Miller’s Record for the fastest T20 Century. 

Rohit Sharma in 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup:

Credit: Sport360

The 2019 World Cup in England is when we saw the Peak Rohit Sharma. He was named the team's vice-captain for the 2019 World Cup in England. He started the tournament off by scoring 122 in the first game against South Africa, on the way to reaching his 12,000th run in international cricket. He then scored hundreds against Bangladesh, England, and Pakistan. He equalled Tendulkar's record for the most centuries (6) in all World Cup games by hitting yet another century in the match against Sri Lanka, making him the first batsman to score five centuries in a single World Cup tournament. Sharma scored a total of 648 runs during the competition, finishing as the top run scorer and becoming the third Indian player to win the ICC Golden Bat title.

Rohit Sharma Centuries and Double Centuries:

Rohit is the only player ever in the history of cricket, to have not one, not two, but three international ODI double centuries. Sachin Tendulkar was the first male player to score a double ton, and Virendra Sehwag was the second Indian to do it. But since Ro started playing as an opener in 2013, no batsmen has more double hundreds in ODIs. His hundreds against Australia and Sri Lanka are a testament of his aggression and six hitting prowess. 

Rohit Sharma Most Sixes in International Cricket:

Credit: The New Indian Express

Rohit is one of the most prolific six-hitters in the history of cricket. He holds the record for most sixes in international cricket, with a staggering 562 maximums to his name. He recently crossed Chris Gayle after his 100 against Afghanistan in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup. Then he continued with his six hitting masterclass in the match against Pakistan scoring a match winning 86. His ability to hit sixes is due to a combination of factors, including his powerful wrists, his clean hitting technique, and his ability to read the bowlers. 

Highest individual score in ODIs: 

He holds the record for the highest individual score in One Day Internationals (ODIs) with an incredible 264 runs.

Only player with three double centuries in ODIs: 

Ro is the only cricketer in the history of ODI cricket to have scored three double centuries.

Second Indian with centuries in all formats of cricket: 

He is the second Indian batsman, after Suresh Raina, to score centuries in all three formats of cricket (Test, ODI, and T20I).

The highest number of centuries in a single ICC World Cup - 5: 

During the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Hitman achieved a remarkable feat by scoring five centuries in a single tournament, which is the highest by any player in World Cup history.

Four centuries in T20Is, the most for any batter in the shortest form of the game: 

Holds the record for the most centuries (four) in T20 International cricket, making him one of the most prolific T20I batsmen.

The most capped player in T20Is overall, having appeared in 142 matches for India: 

Rohit has represented India in 142 T20 International matches, making him the most capped player in this format for the Indian cricket team.

FAQ:

Q - What is Rohit Sharma’s wife’s and daughter’s name?

His wife's name is Ritika Sajdeh and his daughter's name is Samaira Sharma.

Q - What is Rohit Sharma’s Age?

Sharma’s age is 36 as of today (2023-10-16).

Q - What is Rohit Sharma’s net worth?

Ro’s net worth according to Outlook India is estimated to be around Rs. 214 Cr.

Q - What is Rohit Sharma’s height?

Rohit Sharma's height is 1.75 meters (5 feet 9 inches).

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