Dubai: India captain Rohit Sharma has been in brilliant form recently and he provided a solid start to the national side in the Champion trophy fixture against Bangladesh. The right-handed batter added another milestone to his career by taking the least innings to complete 9000 ODI runs as an opener on Sunday against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium. He achieved the feat in 181 innings surpassing Sachin Tendulkar (197) and Sourav Ganguly (231). Chris Gayle (246) and Adam Gilchrist reached the landmark in 246 and 253 innings respectively.
The right-handed batter played a knock of 20 runs from 15 deliveries laced with three fours and a six. However, an inswinger from Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi cleaned him up. India were chasing a target of 242 as they bundled out Pakistan on 241 thanks to Kuldeep Yadav's three-wicket haul.
The Hitman era continues! 👏💙 #RohitSharma making records look easy.
— Indian Cricket Team (@incricketteam) February 23, 2025
Fastest to 9000 ODI runs as Opener
181 Inngs - Rohit Sharma*
197 Inngs - Sachin Tendulkar
231 Inngs - Sourav Ganguly
246 Inngs - Chris Gayle
253 Inngs - Adam Gilchrist #INDvsPAK | #ChampionsTrophy pic.twitter.com/qCfwbOltSN
Coming into the match against Pakistan, Rohit needed just one run to complete 9000 ODI runs. Also, he became only the third Indian opener to score 9000 ODI runs. Rohit completed the record on the second delivery of the innings as he clipped a delivery towards backward square leg.
This is not the only record he has broken in recent times. He recently became the second fastest batter to score 11000 ODI runs in the opening fixture of the Champions Trophy against Bangladesh.
Recently, Rohit became the second-leading run-getter as an opener across formats for India. The 37-year-old played a knock of 119 runs to surpass Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 15,310 runs as an opener for India.
