Rohit Sharma is not India’s ODI captain anymore, but he is part of India’s ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series in Australia. The Indian men’s cricket team will travel to Australia next week to take part in a three-match ODI and five-match T20I series. The first ODI will be played at Optus Stadium in Perth on November 19, and the next two ODIs are scheduled to take place in Adelaide and Sydney on October 23 and 25, respectively.
Rohit will play as a specialist batter for India and open the inning with new captain Shubman Gill. Rohit, who has hammered 990 runs in 19 ODIs played so far against the Australian team in Australia, has shared his excitement for the upcoming tour of Australia and said that he loves playing against Australia.
“I love playing against them. I love going to Australia. It’s a very challenging country to play cricket. People there love the game as well,” Rohit said during a CEAT Tyres event in Mumbai.
“But certainly, Australia is a different challenge every time they have played against us. Having been there now several times, I do understand what to expect. Hopefully we can go there and do what the Indian team is supposed to do and get the result in our favour,” he said.
Rohit last played in Australia during the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but that assignment was a forgetful one for him. He featured in three matches but was only able to score 31 runs in five innings.
Rohit can break multiple records
During the upcoming three-match ODI series in Australia, Rohit will have a chance to break multiple batting records.
If Rohit is selected in India’s playing XI for any of the three matches, 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.
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 (351).
In addition to that, Rohit will also have a chance to become India’s third-highest run-getter in ODIs, the fourth Indian to score 20,000 runs in international cricket and the first batter to score 1000 runs in India-Australia ODI matches in Australia.
