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Rohit Sharma becomes ODI cricket’s greatest six-hitter, Shahid Afridi’s record bites the dust
Rohit Sharma now holds the record for hitting the most sixes in ODI cricket, going past Shahid Afridi's tally of 351.
At 38, Rohit Sharma continues to pile records. The former India captain, on his return to playing ODI cricket on home soil, hammered Shahid Afridi’s record (351) to smash the most sixes in one-day internationals. Rohit, two shy of levelling Afridi, went past him in some really good time too, getting to the landmark in his 277th match and in 100 innings quicker than Afridi. With this, Rohit leads the pack in a list that features some of the greatest six-hitters in world cricket, such as Chris Gayle, MS Dhoni, Sanath Jayasuriya, AB de Villiers and more.
Rohit, coming into the series on the back of a century in the third ODI against Australia in Sydney, enjoyed some luck early on, as he was dropped on 1. Tony d Zorzi, coming in from deep third man, failed to hang on to a pull from Rohit. That was the opening Rohit was looking for. Rohit then got some confidence back with the arrival of Virat Kohli. The fact that Kohli was going great guns at the other end gave Rohit the time to settle in, and once he did, the boundaries began to flow. A backfoot punch off Marco Jansen and back-to-back fours against Corbin Bosch meant that Rohit was now in full flow.
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From there, Rohit slowed down, albeit slightly, though. He completed his half-century and soon pulled Marco Jansen to get to the world record.
It was almost as if Kohli and Rohit continued from where they had left off in Sydney. Kohli was the first to switch gears, with the second six bringing up the 50-run partnership off 41 balls. Batting on 36, Rohit smoked his 350th ODI six, and equalled Afridi the very next ball for the 351st – both coming off slog sweeps off the bowling of off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen.
In terms of matches, Rohit is the fastest among any batter to have scored more than 230 sixes. His partner in crime, Kohli, still trails by almost 100 sixes. Rohit looked well set on 57, destined to convert it into a three-figure score before a ball from Jansen kept low and thudded onto Rohit's pads. The finger went up, and while Rohit could have opted for the DRS, he decided not to after a brief chat with Kohli.
