Indian captain Rohit Sharma surpassed West Indies legend Chris Gayle and broke the record for the most sixes in international cricket during India’s second World Cup 2023 match against Afghanistan in Delhi yesterday.
Rohit Sharma went into the match with 551 sixes in 452 innings. He emphatically went on to hit two sixes in consecutive overs bowled by left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi. In the ninth over, he smashed an astounding 85-meter six against Naveen-ul-Haq, surpassing Gayle’s record of 553 sixes. He hit a total of five sixes in the match.
Chris Gayle achieved this feat in 2021 after 551 innings, spanning over 22 years. In contrast, Rohit surpassed him in only his 473rd inning, in his 16th year.
Sharma and Gayle stand as the only players with over 500 sixes in international cricket, as Shahid Afridi (476) and the New Zealand duo of Brendon McCullum (398) and Martin Guptill (383) trail far behind.
Following a duck in the previous match against Australia, Rohit made a blazing start in Delhi, reaching his half-century in just 30 balls.
Australia has been at the receiving end of his six-hitting prowess, with Rohit hitting a staggering 121 sixes against them across all formats. This constitutes nearly a quarter of his overall tally. His average is over 1.5 sixes per match against the Kangaroos. In terms of total numbers, West Indies (88), Sri Lanka (78), and New Zealand (68) come next.
Rohit Sharma also secured another monumental record by becoming the fastest Indian to reach 1000 runs in men’s ODI World Cups.
He achieved this milestone in only his 19th inning in the tournament. This puts him on par with David Warner as the joint-fastest to reach this landmark, and he now holds the title of the fastest Indian, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 20 innings.
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