India, Oct 23 : India faced Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series at Adelaide Oval, a must win encounter after Rohit Sharma’s disappointing 8 run performance in the opening game. Rising to the occasion, Rohit delivered a brilliant innings, reaching his 59th ODI fifty and setting multiple records in the process.
After a slow start, Rohit accelerated in the latter half of his innings, particularly in an over from Mitchell Owen, where he smashed two sixes with his signature pull shot. With these two maximums, Rohit became the first Asian batter ever to hit 150 ODI sixes in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia). The list of top Asian six-hitters in SENA nations now stands as:
Rohit Sharma (India) – 150 sixes
Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) – 113 sixes
Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) – 103 sixes
MS Dhoni (India) – 83 sixes
Virat Kohli (India) – 83 sixes
Rohit finally departed after scoring 73 runs, caught by Josh Hazlewood off Mitchell Starc at short third-man.
Additionally, Rohit achieved another milestone: by hitting his first boundary of the series, he became the first Indian batter to score 1,000 ODI runs against Australia in Australia. His tally includes four fifties and two hundreds on Australian soil.
Rohit also surpassed former India captain Sourav Ganguly to become the third-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs, amassing 11,249 career runs in the 50-over format.