Rohit Sharma has become the second Indian men’s cricketer to score 16,000 runs in international cricket as an opener. He joined Virender Sehwag in the elite list with a massive six against Azmatullah Omarzai in the first ODI of the India-Afghanistan series at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala.
Overall, he’s the seventh player to do so after Sanath Jayasuriya, Chris Gayle, David Warner, Graeme Smith, Desmond Haynes, and Sehwag.
Most runs in men’s international cricket as an opener:
| Player | Team | Span | Matches | Runs | Highest Score | Average | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 1993–2011 | 506 | 19,298 | 340 | 35.86 | 41 | 95 |
| Chris Gayle | West Indies | 2000–2021 | 441 | 18,867 | 333 | 39.80 | 42 | 102 |
| David Warner | Australia | 2009–2024 | 374 | 18,744 | 335* | 42.89 | 49 | 97 |
| Graeme Smith | South Africa | 2002–2014 | 342 | 16,950 | 277 | 42.69 | 37 | 88 |
| Desmond Haynes | West Indies | 1978–1994 | 354 | 16,120 | 184 | 41.87 | 35 | 96 |
| Virender Sehwag | India | 2001–2013 | 332 | 16,119 | 319 | 41.54 | 36 | 67 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 2009–2026 | 359 | 16,009* | 264 | 45.35 | 45 | 83 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 1994–2012 | 346 | 15,335 | 200* | 48.07 | 45 | 75 |
| Tamim Iqbal | Bangladesh | 2007–2023 | 391 | 15,210 | 206 | 35.20 | 25 | 94 |
| Alastair Cook | England | 2006–2018 | 250 | 15,110 | 294 | 42.44 | 36 | 74 |
It wasn’t a pleasant match for Rohit otherwise. Azmatullah Omarzai opened the bowling against him and surprised him with a body-line bouncer on the third ball, which hit the right-hander on the gloves.
Rohit was in serious pain and needed prolonged attention from the physios. He didn’t look completely
at ease after that, though still managing to hit some amazing shots — a backfoot punch against Zia Ur Rahman and then, on the third ball of the third over, a commanding pull over deep square-leg to another bouncer from Omarzai to reach the landmark 16,000 runs.
But soon after, a poor miscommunication between him and his opening partner, Shubman Gill, led to the former India skipper getting out. Rohit pushed a ball from Allah Ghazanfar and called for a run but Gill got stuck behind the bowler, who was trying to gather the ball.
Gill seemed to loudly deny the single multiple times, but Rohit, perhaps believing that he could escape and get ahead of the bowler, ran down the ground and couldn’t reach back in time. He was out for a run-a-ball 16.












