Rohit Sharma is not India’s ODI captain anymore, but he will still feature in the three-match ODI series against Australia, which is set to kick off in Perth on Sunday, October 19. Rohit will play as a specialist
batter for India in Shubman Gill’s first ODI series as captain and open the innings with him. Rohit last played an ODI match for Men in Blue on March 9 against New Zealand in Dubai and scored 76 runs to win the Player Of The Match (POTM) award.
In the three ODIs against the Australian team, which features the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, among others, Rohit would like to come up with big performances with the bat and help the visitors get the better of the Men in Yellow.
During the three ODIs, Rohit will also have a chance to break multiple records. Here’s a look:
500 international matches for India: If Rohit is selected in India’s playing XI for any of the three matches in Australia, then he will become the fifth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid to play at least 500 international matches. Since making his debut for India against Ireland during an ODI match in June 2007, Rohit has made 499 appearances so far.
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 664 | 34,357 |
| Virat Kohli | 550 | 27,599 |
| MS Dhoni | 535 | 17,092 |
| Rahul Dravid | 504 | 24,064 |
| Rohit Sharma | 499 | 19,700 |
Most sixes in ODIs: In 273 ODIs played so far for Team India, Rohit has hammered 344 sixes. If the right-handed batter from Mumbai manages to hit at least eight sixes in the upcoming three matches, then he will break the record of scoring the most sixes in ODIs, which as of now is in the name of former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi. Afridi played 398 ODIs from 1996 to 2015 and smacked 351 sixes.
| PLAYER | TEAM | MATCHES | RUNS | SIXES |
| Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 398 | 8064 | 351 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 273 | 11,168 | 344 |
| Chris Gayle | West Indies | 301 | 10,480 | 331 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 445 | 13,430 | 270 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 350 | 10,773 | 229 |
1000 runs India-Australia ODIs (in Australia): Rohit has played 19 ODIs for Team India in Australia against the six-time ODI World Cup winners and amassed a total of 990 runs. Rohit needs to score 10 runs to become the first batter to score 1000 runs in India-Australia ODI matches played in Australia.
| PLAYER | TEAM | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 19 | 990 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 18 | 802 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 25 | 740 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 21 | 684 |
| Steve Smith | Australia | 11 | 683 |
3rd leading run getter for India in ODIs: Rohit has scored a total of 11,168 runs for Team India in 273 ODIs played so far. He needs 54 more runs to go past Sourav Ganguly’s tally of 11,221 runs and become India’s third-highest run getter in the 50-over format of the game.
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 463 | 18,426 |
| Virat Kohli | 302 | 14,181 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 308 | 11,221 |
| Rohit Sharma | 273 | 11,168 |
| Rahul Dravid | 340 | 10,768 |
20,000 runs for India (4th): As of now, Rohit has amassed a total of 19,700 runs in 499 international matches for India. If Rohit scores at least 300 runs in the India-Australia ODI series, then he will become the fourth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid to amass a total of more than 20,000 runs in international cricket.
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 664 | 34,357 |
| Virat Kohli | 550 | 27,599 |
| Rahul Dravid | 504 | 24,064 |
| Rohit Sharma | 499 | 19,700 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 421 | 18,433 |
100 ODI sixes vs Australia: Rohit holds the record for hitting the most sixes in ODIs against Australia. In 46 matches played so far, he has smacked 88 maximums. If Rohit manages to hit at least 12 more sixes in the upcoming three matches, then he will become the first batter in the world to hit 100 sixes against Australia in the 50-over format of the game.
| PLAYER | TEAM | MATCHES | RUNS | SIXES |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 46 | 2407 | 88 |
| Eoin Morgan | England | 57 | 1952 | 48 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 71 | 3077 | 35 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 55 | 1660 | 33 |
| Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 47 | 1122 | 33 |
Most ODI 100s vs Australia: Rohit has slammed eight centuries in ODIs against Australia. The right-handed batter needs two more centuries to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most ODI hundreds against the Aussies (9 centuries in 71 ODIs).
| PLAYER | TEAM | MATCHES | 100s |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 71 | 9 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 46 | 8 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 50 | 8 |
| Desmond Haynes | West Indies | 64 | 6 |
| Faf du Plessis | South Africa | 22 | 5 |
In addition to that, he will also become the first batter in the world to score 10 triple-digit scores against the Australian team. If Rohit scores at least one century, then, apart from equalling Sachin’s tally, he will also become the third Indian after Tendulkar (100) and Kohli (82) to have 50 triple-digit scores to his credit in international cricket.
Apart from Rohit, Virat Kohli will also have a chance to break multiple records in the three match ODI series against the Australian team.
