Apart from crossing 1000 runs in a calender year for the second year on row, Rohit Sharma on Thursday also breached the 200-sixes mark during the fifth one day international against the West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rohit, who put up a 99-run stand with skipper Virat Kohli for the second wicket, was unbeaten on 56-ball 63 as he powered India to a 9-wicket win over over the visitors and helped India clinch the five-match series 3-1. His innings included 4 sixes and 5 fours.
In the process, Rohit became the fastest batsman to hit 200 sixes. He achieved the milestone in only 187 innings, bettering Shahid Afridi’s record of 195 innings.
But, Rohit was third quickest to achieve the feat in terms of number of deliveries faced Afridi took 4203 balls while former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum got to the landmark in 6308 balls. Meanwhile, Rohit did so in 8387 balls.
Rohit is now the third Indian to hit 200 sixes and 7th overall cricketer. Shahid Afridi leads the table with 351 sixes followed by Chris Gayle (275) and Sanath Jayasuriya (270). For India, MS Dhoni with 218 sixes, lead among Indians.
Rohit came into the ODI series with 186 sixes to his name and hit 16 maximums in the five matches in the series. He now has 202 sixes.
On Thursday, Rohit finished the series as the second-highest run-getter with 389 runs. With over 1000 runs in 2018, he is only behind leading run-getter Virat Kohli, who has 1202 runs.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)