Star opener Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the seven Indian captain to lead the country in 100 international matches when he took the field against England in an ODI World Cup 2023 match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
Rohit joined an elusive tally of Indian leaders featuring MS Dhoni, Mohammad Azharuddin, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev and current head coach Rahul Dravid, who all have led India in 100 or more than 100 international games across formats.
Among all, the 36-year-old Sharma has the highest win-percentage (73.73), having won 73 of his 99 previous games as captain.
Under Rohit’s captaincy, India won the Nidahas Trophy in 2018 besides winning two Asia Cup titles in 2018 and 2023. He also led India in the World Test Championship 2023 final where it finished runner-up after losing to Australia.
The right-handed batter also led the side to the semifinals of the 2022 T20 World Cup where it lost to eventual champion England.
Meanwhile, Rohit also completed 18000 international runs during the game. He achieved the milestone with a boundary off Adil Rashid in the 21st over of India innings.
The Indian captain reached the feat in his 477th innings to become only the fifth Indian player after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli to complete 18000 international runs
During his fighting innings, Rohit also surpassed the ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar to become the second-leading run-getter for India in white-ball (ODI and T20I) World Cup history.
Sachin, who only represented India in ODI World Cups scored 2278 runs in total and Rohit who has featured both in T20I and ODI World Cups, has gone past that mark. Former India skipper Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer for India in World Cups with 2525 runs.
Rohit, who led India’s recovery, eventually got out to Adil Rashid in the 37th over after scoring 87 off 101.
Earlier, England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl first against. Both teams are unchanged for the clash and this is the first time India batting first in this ongoing World Cup.
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
