In the fifth match of the Nidahas Trophy yesterday, India defeated Bangladesh by 17 runs and sealed their spot in the final. Rohit Sharma was declared as the Man of the Match for his blistering 89(61) that included five fours and five sixes. His last six proved to be special as it fetched him an outstanding accomplishment in Indian cricket.
The five sixes against Bangladesh in yesterday’s match carried Rohit Sharma past Yuvraj Singh’s tally of sixes to dislodge him from the leading position. Rohit Sharma now owns the record of hitting the most number of sixes for India in T20Is.Yuvraj had hit 74 sixes in 51 T20I innings, six of which had come in a single over of Stuart Broad.
The tally of sixes for Rohit Sharma now stands at 75 in 71 T20I innings. He has now progressed to the number eight on the all-time list. His next target will be the English Captain Eoin Morgan, who is ahead of him by just one six. The current joint leaders on the list are West Indian batsman Chris Gayle (103 sixes in 51 innings) and New Zealand opener Martin Guptill (103 sixes in 73 innings).
Also Read: Stats Review: Nidahas Trophy (Ind vs Ban 5th T20I)
The astonishing ease with which Rohit Sharma strikes the ball directly over the boundary ropes has earned him a lot of records and it accelerates his innings to such high-speeds that it has made him the only batsman to score three double-centuries in ODIs. The ‘Hitman’ is also the only Indian to score two centuries in T20Is.
The interim national T20 Captain also holds the record of hitting the most number of sixes in a T20I innings for India. Rohit Sharma hit the listless Sri Lankan bowlers for 10 sixes in an innings as he cruised to 118 runs off just 43 balls at Indore in December 2017.
The Mumbaikar’s maverick six-hitting is not restricted to the T20s only, though. He has already hit more ODI sixes than the likes of Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, etc. Rohit’s ODI sixes total currently stands at 169 sixes in 174 innings. He is also the joint record holder for the most number of sixes in an ODI (16 sixes in 209 runs versus Australia in 2013).
At this moment, Rohit Sharma is one of the cleanest six-hitters in the game. His bat seems to impart double the energy to the ball than it was bowled with. His sixes are more like a sharp edge knife piercing through rather than a blunt assault. Virat Kohli in one of his interview said that Rohit possesses 1.5 extra seconds than any other batsman in the world.
That is perhaps the reason why Rohit ‘Hitman’ Sharma is such six-hitting champion. Watch some of his best shots here.
